Meet our Ancestors

John Crichton-Stuart
7th Marquess of Bute (b.1958)

The present head of the Bute family is Johnny Bute. He enjoyed a successful career in motor racing during the 1980s and was British Formula 3 Champion in 1984. He went on to drive in Formula 1 in the 1986 season and won, with Jaguar, the Le Mans 24-hour race in 1988. Since succeeding his father in 1993, he has overseen, amongst other projects, the completion of the Chapel decoration scheme at Mount Stuart and instigated the restoration of the Family Bedroom. He also commissioned the new Visitor Centre - the recipient of several architectural awards - which opened to the public in 2001. As well as the ongoing programme of work at Mount Stuart, he is dedicated to supporting the local economy and maintaining the rural lifestyle and natural beauty of the Island of Bute.
www.johnnydumfries.com

John Crichton-Stuart
6th Marquess of Bute (1933 - 1993)

John Crichton-Stuart, 6th Marquess of Bute, was deeply involved with Scottish arts and heritage, and was at various times Chairman of the Historic Buildings Council of Scotland, Chairman of the National Trust for Scotland and Chairman of Trustees of the National Museums of Scotland, where he presided over the commissioning of the new Museum of Scotland building which opened to the public in 1998. In the late 1980s he began an ambitious programme of restoration at Mount Stuart and commissioned new decorative work from contemporary artists and craftspeople.

John Crichton-Stuart
5th Marquess of Bute (1907 - 1956)

John Crichton-Stuart, 5th Marquess of Bute, was a keen ornithologist and served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War. To protect their unique wildlife system, he purchased the environmentally precious Islands of St Kilda after the local population had vacated the islands in the 1930s. These were later gifted to the National Trust for Scotland. He also gifted Cardiff Castle to the City of Cardiff after the death of his father in 1947.

John Crichton-Stuart
4th Marquess Of Bute (1881 - 1947)

John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute, shared his father's enthusiasm for architecture. Amongst his restoration projects were Caerphilly Castle in Wales and Robert Adam's north side of Charlotte Square in Edinburgh. An avid collector, he built up important collections of art, silver, money, stamps and furniture. He developed a particular interest in the history and culture of Morocco, where he became the largest foreign landowner. At Tangier, he also established the famous El Minzah Hotel and became proprietor of the English language newspaper, The Tangier Gazette. In 1938 he presided over the sale of the bulk of his Cardiff properties in a deal which caused a sensation in the national press at the time.

John Patrick Crichton-Stuart
3rd Marquess of Bute (1847 - 1900)

John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, was a noted scholar, heraldist, linguist and theologian. He was also a great architectural patron. With William Burges he remodelled Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch in Wales and built the new Mount Stuart with the architect, Sir Robert Rowand Anderson. He was also responsible for the restoration of Falkland Palace in Fife and archaeological excavations at Whithorn and St Andrews. Bute was also a noted benefactor, particularly in the field of education. He gifted Bute Hall to Glasgow University and a Medical School to St Andrews. He was not a conventional Victorian aristocrat: he did not hunt, shoot or fish and supported the anti-vivisection movement; he advocated the re-establishment of a Scottish Parliament; and, as rector of St Andrews, secured the first female professorship at that university.

John Crichton-Stuart
2nd Marquess of Bute (1793 - 1848)

John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, succeeded to the title after the death of his grandfather, the 1st Marquess, in 1814. The 2nd Marquess, whose own father, John Stuart, Viscount Mount Stuart, had died in 1794, adopted the additional surname of Crichton in 1805 after inheriting the Earldom of Dumfries from his mother, Penelope Crichton. The 2nd Marquess of Bute was one of the great industrialists of the first half of the 19th Century, creating the Bute Docks in Cardiff, which opened in 1839. The subsequent growth of Cardiff - which became the largest coal port in the world - led to the 2nd Marquess being nicknamed 'The Creator of Modern Cardiff'.

John Stuart
4th Earl & 1st Marquess Of Bute (1744 - 1814)

John Stuart, 4th Earl of Bute, was created 1st Marquess of Bute in 1796. In his youth he travelled widely on the continent and became close friends with James Boswell, a companion for part of his journey. Boswell recorded their first meeting in 1765, in his famous Journal: “I formed a close connection with Lord Mountstuart, eldest son of the worthy Lord Bute, intimate friend of our King. My Lord Mountstuart is a young nobleman who merits his being of the blood of the ancient kings of Scotland”. The 1st Marquess married Charlotte Windsor, heiress to a huge estate in South Wales, in 1766. This union not only proved of benefit to the Bute family: Charlotte used the influence of her husband as British Ambassador at Madrid to secure the export of Dahlia seeds from Spain, thus introducing that popular plant to Britain.

John Stuart
3rd Earl of Bute (1713 - 1792)

John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute, was a major figure in 18th Century Britain. He became a close confidant of George III, who made him Prime Minister - the first Scot to hold the post - in 1762. He proved to be deeply unpopular in England for a variety of reasons, not the least of which was his nationality (many in England were still distrustful of the Scots after the Jacobite Rising of 1745-6). This led to written, verbal and physical attacks being made upon him and he resigned in 1763. The 3rd Earl was a noted patron of the arts. Those to benefit from his patronage included the artists Sir Joshua Reynolds and Allan Ramsay and the architect Robert Adam. He also secured a pension for Dr Samuel Johnson, devoted much time to the study of botany and was a key figure in the establishment of Kew as a serious botanical garden.

James Stewart
2nd Earl of Bute (d. 1723)

James Stewart, 2nd Earl of Bute, succeeded his father in 1710 and became Lord Lieutenant of the County of Bute in 1715. This was the year of a major Jacobite rising and the Earl, loyal to the British Government, commanded the Militia of the Shires of Bute and Argyll in this period. His major achievements, however, were in the fields of architecture and horticulture, for it was he who ordered the building of the first Mount Stuart house and began the laying out of the grounds. The house, designed by Alexander McGill in 1716, was constructed between 1718 and 1722.

James Stewart, Sheriff Of Bute (d. 1662)

James Stewart
1st Earl of Bute (d. 1710)

The 1st Earl of Bute was a Member of the Scottish Parliament at the time of the Act of Union with England in 1707. Opposed to the Union, the Earl absented himself from the Union vote in the Scottish Parliament. Ironically, his grandson (the 3rd Earl), would later become the first Scot to serve as Prime Minister of the new state of Great Britain. The Earl moved his family out of Rothesay Castle to a mansion house in the town after their lodgings were destroyed during the insurrection of the Earl of Argyll in 1685.

James Stewart
Sheriff Of Bute (d. 1662)

Sir James Stewart, a great, great grandson of Ninian Stewart, succeeded his father, John, as Sheriff of Bute in around 1618. On 28 March 1627 he was created a Baronet of Scotland and Nova Scotia. In the mid 17th Century he was dispossessed of Rothesay Castle by the troops of Oliver Cromwell, who plundered and garrisoned the fortress. In 1660, after the restoration of the monarchy, he appealed to King Charles II to repair the castle as the 'unhappy troubles' had left him 'ruined in his estate by the rebels…and the castle partly demolished.'

Ninian Stewart
Sheriff Of Bute (d. circa 1539)

A great, great grandson of 'The Black Stewart', Ninian Stewart succeeded to the office of Sheriff of Bute after the death of his brother, James, in 1490. During the 1490s, King James IV attempted to subdue the powerful magnate, the Lord of the Isles, who competed for power on the west coast and islands of Scotland in the Middle Ages. To achieve this, it was essential that strongholds on Scotland's western seaboard remained loyal to the Crown. Consequently, on 5 August 1498, the trusted Ninian was made Hereditary Captain and Keeper of Rothesay Castle, a title still in the possession of his family to this day.

Sir John Stewart
Sheriff of Bute (d. circa 1449)

In 1315, Walter, Hereditary Steward of Scotland, married Marjorie, daughter of King Robert the Bruce, the victor of Bannockburn. Their son succeeded to the throne as Robert II - the first Stuart King - in 1371. Robert II is believed to have fathered some 21 children. Amongst them was Sir John Stewart, who was created Sheriff of Bute and Arran by his father in circa 1385. He was known as 'The Black Stewart' on account of his dark complexion.