‘Genteel’ spinster leaves museum £2m in her will – The Herald
Thursday, March 13th, 2008
‘Genteel’ spinster leaves museum £2m in her will
An unassuming pensioner who spent much of her life browsing at Scotland’s National Museum has surprised officials by leaving the institution £2m in her will. Adele Stewart, a spinster who lived a modest life in a terrace house in Edinburgh, died aged 79 in 2006.
However, it emerged over the weekend that Miss Stewart left nearly all of her estate to the museum, which is the single biggest bequest it has received since it was established almost 150 years ago. During her life Miss Stewart, who was born to Scottish parents in the Far East, was very private and no-one was aware of the fortune which she had inherited from her father.
Neighbours remember her walking the streets around her home with a plastic bag picking up litter, which annoyed her greatly. She was an active member of her church in the Murrayfield area of Edinburgh but the National Museum of Scotland was her greatest love. Dr Gordon Rintoul, director of the museum, said: “Adele Stewart was a great supporter of our work and aspirations and we are honoured and touched that she has remembered us in this way. “She was a proud Scot who had travelled the world, took a deep interest in cultural and community activities and was deeply connected to Edinburgh and its institutions.”
The National Museum of Scotland is currently engaged in a £46.4m overhaul of the Chambers Street building. Part of the project involves the creation of a World Cultures gallery, which will now be named after Miss Stewart. Dr Rintoul said: “We will recognise her contribution by naming in her honour the new World Cultures galleries being created as part of the Royal Museum Project.”
Miss Stewart was born in 1923. Her father, William Gordon Stewart, was an engineer in Malaya, but he later moved to Singapore. Miss Stewart and her father returned to a house in Coltbridge Terrace, Edinburgh, in the 1960s.It is thought her mother died when Miss Stewart was young. Canon Tim Morris, of the Church of the Good Shepherd in Murrayfield, said: “She was one of those lovely ladies who people always liked talking with because you never came away without learning something interesting about life or literature. “She was a picture of old-fashioned gentility.”
By CALUM MacDONALD – The Herald
Tags: Adele Stewart, museum, national, scotland, will
