John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute

John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute. Photograph, around 1890

John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute (born September 12, 1847 in Mount Stuart House , † October 9, 1900 in Dumfries House ) was a British nobleman and industrialist. In the 1860s he was considered the richest man in the world, and he was an eccentric scientist, builder and promoter of science and culture.

Family and youth

He came from an old branch of the House of Stuart . He was the only son of John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute and his second wife Lady Sophia Frederica Christina, a daughter of Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings and Flora Mure Campbell, 6th Countess of Loudoun , on Born the Isle of Bute in Scotland. His father died just six months after his birth, making him 3rd Marquess of Bute and the associated subordinate titles. When his mother died in 1859, he was an orphan at the age of 12. He attended Harrow School and, from 1865, Christ Church College , Oxford.

Life

Shortly after he came of age, he converted from the Presbyterian to the Roman Catholic Church on December 8, 1868 , which at the time was a sensation for a man from his position in Great Britain and probably served as a template for Benjamin Disraeli's novel Lothair . He then took over the management of his extensive holdings in Scotland and Wales. He had the construction of the Cardiff port facilities started by his father completed, making Cardiff the largest export port for coal of the time. Through the port facilities, his land and his other possessions, he had an annual income of 300,000  pounds , making him the richest man in the world. He traveled extensively in the Middle East and visited Rome and Tenerife during the first Vatican Council .

Memorial to the 3rd Marquess of Bute in Cardiff

He identified himself strongly with the region around Cardiff, but also felt connected to Scotland throughout his life. However, his attempts to build on the earlier political importance of his family failed. His father's influence had been lost due to his long minority, so that he only gained local importance in Cardiff and in his Scottish homeland. He was twice elected mayor of Cardiff in the 1890s and was twice elected provost of his hometown Rothesay . Contrary to his otherwise conservative political stance, he advocated Scottish self-government. In 1875 he became a Knight of the Scottish Thistle Order . From 1892 until his death he was Lord Lieutenant von Bute .

In August 1899 he suffered a minor stroke, followed by a second on October 8, 1900, on which he died the following day. He was buried in the Chapel of Mount Stuart, and his heart was buried on the Mount of Olives in Jerusalem as he wished .

Scientific activities

He was interested in history from an early age, especially in old institutions and the history of Christianity, Judaism, Islam and Buddhism. To do this, studied Scottish history extensively and became a generous supporter of the Universities of St Andrews and Glasgow . At St Andrews, he donated an anatomy chair, a medical classroom and a fraternity building. From 1892 to 1898 he was elected rector of the University of St Andrews. In Glasgow he made the completion of the Bute Hall possible , which still serves as the ballroom for the university. In 1890 he became President of the University College of South Wales at Cardiff.

He dealt with the languages ​​of the countries he traveled and is said to have mastered a total of 21 languages. In 1882 he published a translation of a Coptic morning prayer book and in 1891 a study on the language of the Guanches , the indigenous people of Tenerife. His largest book project was the publication of a two-volume English translation of a medieval breviary in 1879 . His entire life was occupied with the Catholic liturgy, especially with a proprium for the Catholic Church in Scotland and with church architecture. He also supported the publication of books on church history. In the journal Scottish Review , which he had acquired in 1882, he published numerous articles that covered a wide range of topics such as Celtic hymns, the Bayreuth Festival or translations of Turgenew . In 1892 he was president of the Rhyl Eisteddfod .

In the 1890s, Bute turned to spiritual subjects and the study of supernatural phenomena. He supported the clairvoyant Ada Goodrich Freer , with whom he published a book in 1899 about the alleged ghost of Ballechin House in Perthshire .

Castell Coch's Drawing Room near Cardiff

Activity as builder

He became known as the builder of the Cardiff Castle and Castell Coch , which are considered masterpieces of neo-Gothic . In many years of intensive collaboration with the architect William Burges , he had the two castles built as fairytale castles with richly designed and colorful interiors. When it came to the interior design, Bute set the themes according to which the rooms were to be decorated. In addition to the two Welsh castles, he had the house in which he was born, Mount Stuart, which was burned down in Scotland in 1877, rebuilt in the Italian Gothic style according to plans by Robert Rowand Anderson . In addition to these magnificent new buildings, however, he also sponsored excavations and restorations. He let the restoration of Rothesay Castle which his father had begun continue and began with the restoration of Falkland Palace , Caerphilly Castle and Wester Kames Castle . He also donated several new Catholic churches, including Galston and Troon in Scotland. In total, he is said to have financed around 60 construction projects.

Marriage and offspring

On April 16, 1872 he married Gwendolen Mary Anne Fitzalan-Howard , the eldest daughter of Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 1st  Baron Howard of Glossop . His wife came from the old Catholic Howard family and strengthened his Catholic faith. With her he had a daughter and three sons:

1. Lady Margaret Crichton-Stuart (1875–1954) ⚭ Sir Colin MacRae, of Feoirlinn;
2. John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute (1881–1947) ⚭ Augusta Bellingham;
3. Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart (1883–1915) ⚭ Ismay Preston, daughter of Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston ;
4. Lord Colum Edmund Crichton-Stuart (1886–1957) ⚭ Elizabeth Hope.

His eldest son John inherited his title of nobility as 4th Marquess of Bute in 1900.

Works (selection)

• The Roman breviary. Reformed by order of the Holy Ecumenical Council of Trent . Blackwood, Edinburgh, 1879
• The Coptic morning service for the Lord's day . Masters, London, 1882
• Parliament in Scotland . Scottish Home Rule Association, Edinburgh 1892
• On the ancient language of the natives of Tenerife . Masters (?), London 1891
• The early days of Sir William Wallace . Gardner, Paisley 1876

literature

• Rosemary Hannah: The Grand Designer: Third Marquess of Bute . Birlinn, Edinburgh 2013, ISBN 978-1-78027-027-2

Web links

Commons : John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute  - Collection of Pictures, Videos and Audio Files

• KD Reynolds: Stuart, John Patrick Crichton-, third marquess of Bute (1847-1900). In: Henry Colin Gray Matthew, Brian Harrison (Eds.): Oxford Dictionary of National Biography , from the earliest times to the year 2000 (ODNB). Oxford University Press, Oxford 2004, ISBN 0-19-861411-X , ( oxforddnb.com license required ), as of 2004
• John Crichton-Stuart at Hansard (English)
• John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of the County of Bute, on thepeerage.com , accessed October 15, 2015.

Individual evidence

1. ^ Cardiff Castle: About the Castle. Retrieved September 4, 2014 . 
2. ^ The Victorian Web: The 3rd Marquess of Bute. Retrieved September 4, 2014 . 
3. ↑ Cracroft's Peerage: Bute, Marquess of (GB, 1796). Retrieved September 4, 2014 . 
4. ↑ Mount Stuart: 3rd Marquess. Retrieved September 4, 2014 . 
5. ^ Welsh Biography Online: Bute, marquesses of Bute, Cardiff Castle. Retrieved September 4, 2014 . 

predecessor	Office	successor
John Crichton-Stuart	Marquess of Bute 1848-1900	John Crichton-Stuart