Most of this information comes from J I M Stewart's autobiography, Myself and Michael Innes.
| 30th Sept 1906 | John Innes Mackintosh Stewart born in Edinburgh |
| 1913 | begins school: Edinburgh Academy |
| 1924 | leaves school |
| 1925 | goes to Oriel College, Oxford University, to read English |
| 1928 | takes Finals and gets a First |
| 1928/9 | spends a year in Vienna |
| 1929 | is granted "some sort of Senior Scholarship at Oriel" to edit Florio's 17th century translation of Montaigne for the Nonesuch Press. Lives in London and researches at the British Library |
| 1930 | junior lecturer at Leeds University |
| 1931 | his edition of Florio's Montaigne published |
| 1932 | marries Margaret Harwick |
| 1935 | Jury Professor of English at Adelaide University, Australia. Writes most of Death at the President's Lodging on the voyage out |
| 1939-45 | becomes a private during the Second World War, but this was "an empty form" |
| 1949 | publishes first book of criticism, Character and Motive in Shakespeare (written in Australia) |
| 1945 | returns to England with wife and five children |
| 1946-48 | lecturer at Queen's University, Belfast |
| 23rd June 1948 | appointed Student of Christ Church College, Oxford University |
| 1960 | visiting professor at the University of Washington at Seattle |
| 1962 | visiting lecturer at the University of New Brunswick at Fredericton, Canada |
| 1969 | appointed Reader at Oxford University |
| 1974 | the first novel in his Staircase in Surrey quintet published |
| 12th Nov 1994 | dies |