Baronets Stuart of Bute (1627)
1st Baronet Stuart, James Stuart, b.?, a.1627, d.1662
The Stuarts of Bute are descended from John
Stewart (b.?, d.1445-1449), an illegitimate son of King Robert II. He was
created Hereditary Sheriff of Arran, Bute and Cumbrae,
a new county set up specifically for him by his father. His descendants also
became Hereditary Keepers of Rothesay Castle. The
family estates grew to include the estates of Kilchattan
and Ardmaleish. Sir James Stuart, seven generations
down, was created 1st Baronet Stuart of Bute in the Baronetage of Nova Scotia in 1627.
He was a Royalist during the Civil Wars and held Rothesay Castle for the King. As King's Lieutenant
in Western Scotland, he was instructed to take Dumbarton
Castle, but bad weather scuppered one of his two ships and, his attack failing, he
withdrew to Ireland.
In 1646 he had to pay a fine in order to recover his lands. Rothesay Castle and the sheriffdom
were finally removed from his hands during the Act of Grace in 1654. Surviving
beyond the Restoration, he was buried in Westminster Abbey.
2nd Baronet Stuart, Dugald
Stuart, b.?, a.1662, d.c.1671
Son of the 1st Baronet and Grizel
Campbell, daughter of Sir Dugald Campbell, 1st
Baronet Campbell of Auchinbreck. His younger brother Robert Stuart (b.c.1655, d.1710) became a Lord of
Session in 1701, was a Commissioner for the Union and became 1st Baronet Stuart of Tillicoultry in 1707.
3rd Baronet Stuart, James Stuart, b.?, a.c.1671, d.1710
Son of the 2nd Baronet and Elizabeth Ruthven, daughter of
Major General Sir John Ruthven of Dunglass. After the
rebellion and subsequent forfeiture of Archibald Campbell, 9th Earl
of Argyll, in 1681, Stuart was commissioned to
maintain control over this large area and given command of a militia, and in
1685 he joined the Faculty of Advocates and was made Sheriff of Argyll. He also
represented Bute as
an MP. He supported William and Mary at the Revolution and was made a Privy Counsellor. In 1703 he was created 1st Earl of Bute, 1st Viscount Kingarth
and 1st Lord Mountstuart, Cumra and Inchmarnock.
Earls of Bute
(1703)
1st Earl of Bute, James Stuart, b.?, a.1703, d.1710
He was one of the Commissioners sent to England to negotiate for the Union of
Parliaments in 1702, this coming to nothing at the time. He opposed the Union and refused to attend the final Scottish Parliament
that ratified the treaty.
2nd Earl of Bute,
James Stuart, b.b.1696, a.1710, d.1722-1723
Son of the 1st Earl and Agnes Mackenzie (b.1663, d.1696). He
was a Representative Peer from 1715 to 1723 and served as Lord-Lieutenant of Bute between 1715 and 1723, and
was also Lord of the Bedchamber from 1721 to 1723.
3rd Earl of Bute,
John Stuart, b.1713, a.1723, d.1792
Son of the 2nd Earl and Lady Anne Campbell (b.b.1696,
d.1736), daughter of Sir Archibald Campbell, 1st Duke of Argyll. Inheriting at
a young age, and raised by his maternal uncles, 2nd and 3rd
Dukes of Argyll, he was educated at Eton and the University of Leiden, and
served as a Representative Peer from 1737 to 1741 and from 1761 to 1780. He
gained the Order of the Thistle in 1738, only to resign this later on being
invested as a Knight of the Garter in 1762. During the Jacobite
rebellion of 1745 he moved to London and served
in the Royal Household, becoming a close ally of Frederick, Prince of Wales,
and after his death in 1751 also of Frederick's
younger brother, the future King George III, becoming a Lord of the Bedchamber
in 1750. His influence as George's tutor paved the way for a growth in interest
for the sciences. He was made a Privy Counsellor and
Groom of the Stole after George's accession in 1760, and in 1762 he was
appointed Prime Minister, though he held this post for less than one year, resigning
due to growing conflict with the King, although he remained on good terms. A
keen promoter of the arts and sciences, Stuart was a supporter of the architect
Robert Adam and various other Scottish luminaries. His tenure as Prime Minister
and general involvement at the highest levels even after his resignation was
severely criticized and satirized, leading to a general dissatisfaction in England over
the influence of the Scottish Enlightenment. He was Chancellor of Marischal College, Aberdeen,
from 1761, and he became a Trustee of the British Museum
in 1765. He was also elected President of the Society of Antiquaries of
Scotland from 1780 to 1792 and was made an Honorary Fellow of the Royal College
of Physicians of Edinburgh.
4th Earl of Bute,
John Stuart, b.1744, a.1792, d.1814
Son of the 3rd Earl and Mary Wortley
Montagu, Baroness Mount Stuart of Wortley (b.1718,
d.1794). Long under his father’s shadow, he served as a Tory MP for Bossiney in Cornwall from
1766 to 1776 and was later elevated to the peerage as 1st Baron
Cardiff of Cardiff Castle, having extensive lands in South
Wales. He was made a Privy Counsellor in
1779 and served as Ambassador to Spain for two spells, in 1783 and
in 1795. He was Lord-Lieutenant of Bute,
and of Glamorganshire, from 1794 to 1814. In 1796, he was created 1st
Marquess of Bute, 1st
Viscount Mountjoy and 1st Earl of Windsor
in the Peerage of the United
Kingdom.
Marquesses of Bute
(1796)
1st Marquess of Bute, John Stuart, b.1744, a.1796, d.1814
In 1799 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society and in 1800 he became
a Trustee of the British
Museum. His younger
brother James Archibald Stuart (b.1747, d.1818) represented Bute as an MP and reached the rank of
Lieutenant-Colonel of his own regiment. He inherited both his mother's Wortley lands in Yorkshire and in Cornwall, but also his father's younger
brother's former Mackenzie lands that had also come into the family by
marriage. His son James Stuart-Wortley-Mackenzie (b.1776,
d.1845) was later raised to the peerage as 1st Baron Wharnecliffe
in 1826, and the 3rd Baron was created 1st Earl of Wharnecliffe
in 1876, which title is extant.
2nd Marquess of Bute, John Crichton-Stuart, b.1793, a.1814, d.1848
Grandson of the 1st Marquess and
Charlotte Jane Windsor (b.1746, d.1800), daughter of Herbert Hickman-Windsor, 2nd
Viscount Windsor of Blackcastle, and son of John
Stuart, Viscount Mount Stuart (b.1767, d.1794) and Lady Elizabeth Penelope MacDowall-Crichton (b.1772, d.1797), daughter of Patrick MacDowall-Crichton, 6th Earl of Dumfries. He was born John Stuart, but had his name
legally changed in 1805, being the heir to his maternal grandfather's Dumfries
titles as well as those of Bute. Although the 6th
Earl of Dumfries died in 1803, John could not take over this title until the 1st
Marquess died, since it would have been unacceptable
for him to outrank his father. He was educated at Eton
and Christ's College Cambridge. When his paternal grandfather died in 1814, he
succeeded to all the titles held by both of his grandfathers. Preferring to
live a private life managing his estates, he quickly saw the commercial opportunities
of the Welsh coalfields and invested heavily in land and industrial sites there
and taking over the ownership of Cardiff
Castle. He was
responsible for the construction of Cardiff Docks and is considered to be the
creator of modern Cardiff
as an industrial centre. Between 1815 and 1848 he was Lord-Lieutenant of both Bute and Glamorganshire. He was
invested as a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries in 1838 and he was
made a Knight of the Thistle in 1843. He also obtained honorary doctorates from
both Oxford and Cambridge, and was High Commissioner to the
General Assembly of the Church of Scotland from 1842 to 1846.
3rd Marquess of Bute, John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, b.1847, a.1848, d.1900
Son of the 2nd Marquess and his
second wife Lady Sophia Frederica Christina Rawdon-Hastings
(b.1809, d.1859), daughter of Francis Rawdon-Hastings,
1st Marquess of Hastings. Succeeding his father while only six months old. he was educated at
Harrow, Christ Church College Oxford and Edinburgh University,
graduating in 1882. He was made a Knight of the Thistle in 1875, and received
honorary doctorates from the University
of Glasgow and the University of St Andrews,
where he held the post of Rector from 1892 to 1898. He was a man of wide
interests, in particular architecture, and he was responsible for the building
of Cardiff Castle in the Gothic Revival form and of
a stunning new Mount Stuart House on Rothesay. He was
Mayor in Cardiff in 1891 and Lord-Lieutenant of Bute from 1892 to 1900.
4th Marquess of Bute, John Crichton-Stuart, b.1881, a.1900, d.1947
Son of the 3rd Marquess and Gwendolen Mary Anne Fitzalan-Howard
(b.1854, d.1932), daughter of Edward George Firzalan-Howard,
1st Baron Howard of Glossop. Educated at Harrow School
and Christ Church College Oxford, he was Lord-Lieutenant of Bute from 1905 until his death and he was made
a Knight of the Thistle in 1922.
5th Marquess of Bute, John Crichton-Stuart, b.1907, a.1947, d.1956
Son of the 4th Marquess and Augusta
Mary Monica Bellingham (b.1880, d.1947), daughter of Sir Alan Henry Bellingham,
4th Baronet Bellingham of Castle Bellingham, County Louth.
He served in the Royal Artillery, Territorial Army Reserves and he was invested
as a Companion of the Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of St John of
Jerusalem (C.St.J.). He was a keen ornithologist and
purchased St Kilda in 1931, leaving it to the National Trust for Scotland in his
will.
6th Marquess of Bute, John Crichton-Stuart, b.1933, a.1956, d.1993
Son of the 5th Marquess and Lady
Eileen Beatrice Forbes (b.1912, d.1993), daughter of Bernard Arthur William
Patrick Hastings Forbes, 8th Earl of Granard.
Educated at Trinity College Cambidge, he served in
the Scots Guards. He was Lord-Lieutenant of Bute between 1967 and 1975, and was made a
Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire (K.B.E.) and a Fellow of
the Royal Society of Antiquaries of Scotland in 1972. He was Chairman of the
National Trust for Scotland
from 1969 to 1993, being responsible for obtaining the funding for the
construction of a new National Museum of Scotland shortly before his death. He
was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh in 1992.
7th Marquess of Bute, John Colum Crichton-Stuart, b.1958, a.1993
Son of the 6th Marquess and
Beatrice Nicola Grace Weld-Forester (b.1933), daughter of Lieutenant-Commander Wolstan Beaumont Charles Weld Forester. Also known as
Johnny Dumfries, he spurned higher education to become a racing driver, beginning
in Formula 3 in 1985 before taking part in Formula 1 racing in the 1986 season,
competing in 16 Grand Prix for Lotus. In 1988 he won the Le Mans rally, driving for Jaguar. In 2007 he
sold Dumfries House, near Cumnock, to a consortium
led by Charles, Prince of Wales, for £45million. He is the current 7th
Marquess of Bute, 7th
Earl of Windsor, 7th Baron Cardiff of Cardiff Castle, 8th
Baron Mount Stuart of Wortley and 7th
Viscount Mountjoy of the Isle of Wight (in the
Peerage of Great Britain), 10th Earl of Bute,
12th Earl of Dumfries, 19th Lord Crichton of Sanquhar, 12th Lord Crichton of Sanquhar and Cumnock, 12th
Lord of Sanquhar, 10th Lord Mountstuart, Cumra and Inchmarnock, 10th Viscount Kingarth,
12th Viscount Air, 12th Viscount of Air (in the Peerage
of Scotland) and 13th Baronet Stuart of Bute.
He is also Hereditary Keeper of Rothesay Castle, Hereditary
Sheriff of Bute and Chief of Clan Stuart of Bute.
The courtesy title of the heir was reviously Lord
Mount Stuart but is now Earl of Dumfries.
(Last updated: 12/02/2013)
Back to main titles
page