Stewart Blenkinsop was educated at Stanhope Road School from 1917 to 1924, following which he attended Westoe Secondary School from 1924 to 1930.

A year after leaving school, he went to Bede College, Durham. He didn't gain a degree, but did come out with his Board of Education Teaching Certificate. Armed with this, he joined the staff of Stanhope Road Boys' School from August 1933 through to August 1940, during which time he took four months in 1938 to attend Sheffield Training College, where he completed the Board of Education Course for Teachers of Music.

It was in August 1940, that he went on five years of War Service, returning to what was now Stanhope Road County Secondary School for Boys in November, 1945.

The following year, in September 1946, he joined the South Shields High School for Boys, replacing Mrs Bell, and teaching music and scripture. But he stayed only a little over a year - at the end of 1947 to left to teach the same subjects at one of the new Emergency Training Colleges in Freckleton, Lancashire, that had been set up by the Ministry of Education for the emergency recruitment and training of teachers to meet post-war needs.

He later became headmaster of Horsley Hill Junior Boys' School.

Stewart Blenkinsop was a well-known character in South Shields, particularly in the musical world. He was musical director of The Grosvenor Singers, and took an active part in the South Shields Amateur Operatic Society (more commonly known in the town as "The Amateus") where he was Secretary, Musical Director and then Honorary President. He was also conducted the South Shields Gilbert & Sullivan Society and The Georgian Singers