Gladys Stewart: Who was Patrick Stewart’s mother?

Gladys Stewart is the mother of iconic actor Patrick Stewart. Gladys Stewart’s son is known worldwide especially for playing Captain Jean-Luc Picard in the Star Trek series and movie franchise, and for portraying Professor Charles Xavier in the X-men series of superhero films. He has been nominated for Olivier, Tony, Golden Globe, Emmy, and Screen Actors Guild Awards. He received a star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in 1996 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II for services to drama in 2010.

Gladys Stewart: Bio Summary

Who was Patrick Stewart’s mother?

Gladys Stewart was born on 10 September 1901 as Gladys Barrowclough. She was the daughter of Freedom Barrowclough and Mary Anne (Hirst) Barrowclough and also the sister of Annie (Barrowclough) Cartwright. Gladys got married to Alfred Stewart in 1933 in Dewsbury, Yorkshire, England. The couple went on to have three children-  Patrick Stewart, Trevor Stewart, and Geoffrey Stewart.

ALSO, READ; Alfred Stewart: Who was Patrick Stewart’s Father

While Gladys was a weaver and textile worker, her husband Alfred was a regimental sergeant major in the British Army during the Second World War. According to Wikitree, when Alfred found out that his girlfriend Gladys Barrowclough was pregnant with their first child, frightened of the perspective of married life or possibly not wanting to believe that the child was his, he left and joined the military, causing their oldest son Geoffrey Stewart to be born out of wedlock in January of 1925. 

Alfred later returned in 1933 after Gladys took him to court for maintenance, he went on to marry Gladys and supported the family from that time forward. In 1935, the couple had their second son- Trevor Stewart, and on on 13 July 1940, they had their third child Patrick Stewart, born in Mirfield in the West Riding of Yorkshire.

Gladys Stewart’s husband was Abusive

The Stewarts lived in a poor household in Jarrow. “My parents’ bedroom had a semi-permanent partition built into it, which is where my brother [Trevor, who is five years older] and I slept. No hot water, no cooking facilities, no toilet, bathroom. Just an open fire and a gas ring. I’d never known anything else.“

ALSO, READ; Sophie Alexandra Stewart: Who is Patrick Stewart’s daughter?

Gladys Stewart’s husband, Alfred was a hard man and tended to become violent. Though Alfred was a good man, a good provider, and a good storyteller, domestic violence was a regular situation in the household, but the family learned to live with it.

Despite the domestic violence, Patrick Stewart’s mother loved his father through it all. Gladys Stewart was always the target of Alfred’s rage, and the boys often had to try to break up things, and even occasionally call the police for help.“Sometimes we had to call an ambulance,” says Patrick of his Yorkshire childhood.

ALSO, READ; Daniel Stewart: Inside the Life of Patrick Stewart’s son

“My brother and I felt ourselves responsible for what happened, but of course we were not“- He said. Eventually, Patrick, who was a boxer at school, grew bigger and stronger than his father, and plucked up the courage to stand up to him. “I warned him that if he did anything to her, he would come off worse. He took that message on board. For him to have a son stand up to him in that way created complex feelings. He just became too old to be a warrior.”- he told Telegraph.

Alfred was also a “good raconteur” who told spellbinding “adventure stories” of his Second World War service.

ALSO, READ; Patrick Stewart Children: How Many Children Does He Have?

Alfred suffered from post-traumatic stress disorder, plagued by feelings of “isolation, inability to communicate, nightmares, flashbacks”. Without excusing Alfred’s domestic violence, Patrick understands him better: “I suspect that [my mother] knew these things about my father that I have only just discovered, and that’s why she loved him and never stopped loving him.”  The siblings had tried to convince their mother to leave him and live somewhere else, but she refused.

ALSO, READ; Patrick Stewart’s siblings- Trevor Stewart and Geoffrey Stewart

What happened to Patrick Stewart’s mother?

Patrick Stewart’s mother Gladys Stewart passed away in 1977 three years before his father Alfred. “When he was living alone, I believe he missed her badly. And perhaps he might even have regretted aspects of their married life.” The actor did not reveal the cause of his mother’s death.