Archive Spotlight:

JOHN STUART, 3RD EARL OF BUTE

John Stuart was a Royal Confidant, Politician, Patron of the Arts, Collector and Botanist. He was born in Edinburgh on 25 May 1723 as eldest son of James, 2nd Earl of Bute (d. 1723) and Anne, Countess of Bute (d. 1736). Educated at Eton, Gronigen and Leiden, John became 3rd Earl of Bute upon his father’s death in 1723.

Political Life
In 1737, Bute was elected a Scots Representative Peer and was created a Knight of the Thistle a year later. He was made a Lord of the Bedchamber by Frederick, Prince of Wales in 1750 and in 1756, became Groom of the Stole to Frederick’s son George (1738 - 1820), who was to become King George III in 1760. Bute remained as Groom of the Stole until 1761, when he was appointed Principal Secretary of State for the Northern Department.

George III appointed Bute First Lord of the Treasury (Prime Minister) in 1762, making him the first Scotsman to hold the position. In the same year he returned the Thistle and became a Knight of the Garter. John was disliked by many in London because of his nationality, his closeness to the King, his brokering of a peace deal with France and his introduction of a tax on cider. He became a victim of personal and physical attacks, notably in John Wilkes’ North Briton and through a series of assaults on his carriage, his home in South Audley Street and even a murder attempt in St James’ Park. Unwilling to face such continued hostilities, Bute resigned as First Lord of the Treasury in 1763 and largely retired from political life.

Passion for Botany
Following his resignation, Bute took the opportunity to travel widely on the continent and began to devote much of his time to the study of botany – a science in which he was both skilled and learned, and on which he wrote and commissioned several important studies. His interest in the subject can be traced to his replanting of the grounds at Mount Stuart during the 1730s and his key role in developing Kew Gardens from the 1750s - the decade in which he became Principal Manager of the Gardens.

Patron of the Arts
Bute was a noted Patron of the Arts and avid collector of paintings. He was responsible for bringing Allan Ramsay, the portrait painter, to the attention of both George III and London society. He secured a pension for Samuel Johnson and patronised the Scottish playwright John Home, who became his secretary as well as tutor to the Prince of Wales. Other notable men to benefit from his patronage were the architect, Robert Adam, the actor, David Garrick and William Robertson, historian and principal of Edinburgh University.

Private Life
In 1736, Bute married Mary Wortley Montagu, daughter of Lady Mary Wortley Montagu, the celebrated traveller and letter writer. They had eleven children.

After becoming a Scots Representative Peer, Bute spent most of his life in England, leaving the occupancy of his ancestral home, Mount Stuart, to his brother James Stewart MacKenzie, who looked after his Scottish estate interests. In England, he lived at his London town house in South Audley Street and, whilst Prime Minister, commissioned Robert Adam to build a mansion between Berkeley Square and Piccadilly, known as Bute (later Landsdowne) House. At this time he also purchased Luton Hoo, a Bedfordshire mansion house and estate, where he built up what was arguably the finest privately held portrait collection in Britain. During the 1770s, Bute moved to his newly built house at Highcliffe, near Christchurch, Hampshire, where he spent most of his final years.

Bute died at South Audley Street on 10 March 1792 and is buried in the Bute Mausoleum at the High Kirk of Rothesay, on the Isle of Bute.

Mount Stuart, Britain’s most astounding Victorian gothic house