Welcome to the IRS files !

By Ian Stewart

It's OK ! There's really no need for you to panic.
Your have not arrived on the Infernal Revenue Service pages in error.
The IRS in this case is me . . . Ian Ramsay Stewart.

This photo was taken 'several' years ago when we went to Germany on my 1953 Ariel 500 KHA.

We had just arrived on the West bank of the River Rhine at Ingelheim and were waiting on the ferry.

I am a Scot who, if you hadn't already guessed so, lives in Scotland. I was born and raised in the city of Glasgow and spent all of my working life there, although, for the last 25 years, we've lived in a small town about 25 miles to the South of the city.

I'm a qualified automobile engineer and was employed for most of my working life in the motor trade. For the 23 years prior to my retiral in 2001, I was employed as a Group Transport Manager with the CWS (Co-operative Wholesale Society), having overall responsibility for a fleet of 650+ funeral vehicles which were based at over 100 locations throughout the UK.

Amongst my interests are, naturally enough, cars and motorcycles. I also enjoy reading, especially classic SF, and listening to music, although my tastes in both of these are pretty wide ranging. Over the years, I have dabbled with several other hobbies . . . SCUBA Diving, Photography, Genealogy, Model Railroads and building my own Computers, to name but five.

Like many engineers, I have a natural curiosity which makes me want to find out how and why things work. It is therefore perhaps understandable that there were times when I could be found tinkering with the internals of a computer. In the days when I used to build my own, it was not unknown for me to have my nose buried in a technical manual trying to figure out why I got something other than the result I expected . . . nowadays, I'm a confirmed Laptop user.

The origins of the Stewart name

Walter FitzAlan, second son of a Breton knight, was appointed High Steward of the royal household by his friend King David I of Scotland (c1150) and was also granted tracts of land in Renfrew, Cathcart, Pollock and Paisley, all of which bordered the Bishopric of Glasgow. In 1157, under the rule of David's grandson, King Malcolm IV, the office of High Steward was made an hereditary title, and the Clan Chief became known as 'the Steward', the title thus giving rise to the Clan name of Stewart. In 1164 FizAlan led the force which defeated Somerled, the King of the Hebrides, in the Battle of Renfrew.

Over a period of time, several other branches of the clan developed, these included Stewart of Appin, Stewart of Atholl and Stuart of Bute, all of these having descended from the original Steward / Stewart line.

The Stewart Clan crest (below) is of a cormorant feeding its young with the surrounding motto :

Virescit Vulnere Virtus - Courage Grows Strong At The Wound.