John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute

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John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute. Drawing by Jean-Étienne Liotard , 1763

John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute PC (born June 30, 1744 in Mount Stuart House , † November 16, 1814 in Geneva ), was a British nobleman , diplomat and politician.

Origin and youth

Stuart came from an old branch of the Stuarts . He was the eldest son of John Stuart, 3rd Earl of Bute and his wife Mary Wortley-Montagu, 1st Baroness Mount Stuart of Wortley , the only daughter of Edward Wortley-Montagu and Mary Wortley Montagu . He attended Harrow School and Winchester College , to which he received private tuition in Oxford. From 1761 to 1765 he undertook a Grand Tour during which he toured the Netherlands, Geneva and later Italy with James Boswell .

Life

From 1766 Stuart was MP for Bossiney in Cornwall in the House of Commons and was counted among the Tories . On November 12, 1766, he married the Hon. Charlotte Jane Windsor , daughter of Herbert Windsor, 2nd Viscount Windsor , and his wife Alice Clavering . His father-in-law had died in 1758, so that after the death of her mother Alice Clavering in 1776, his wife finally became sole heir to her parents' extensive land holdings in South Wales. Through this inheritance Stuart was raised to Baron Cardiff on May 20, 1776 , whereby he resigned his mandate in the House of Commons and became a member of the House of Lords . From 1772 to 1793 and from 1794 until his death he was Lord Lieutenant von Glamorgan , and from 1794 until his death he was Lord Lieutenant von Bute . As the son of the 3rd Earl of Bute, he was also hostile to Prime Minister Lord North and initially received no further offices. In the House of Lords he was one of the proponents of the military confrontation with the American colonies that eventually led to the American War of Independence . From 1779 he was a member of the Privy Council , from 1779 to 1783 he was British envoy to the Kingdom of Savoy . From 1781 he was Auditor of the Imprests , a profitable office in the Treasury . When the office of Auditor of the Imprests was abolished in 1785, he received compensation of £ 7,000 . In 1783 he was appointed ambassador to Spain, but he did not take this office. He supported the government of the Duke of Portland , but to Pitt as Prime Minister he behaved opposition, which he the favor of King George III. lost. After the death of his father in 1792, he inherited his possessions and the title of Earl of Bute , and after his father's death he tried to regain the favor of the king. After the death of his mother in 1794, he inherited the title Baron Mount Stuart . In 1795 he finally became British ambassador to Spain, but the following year he had to return home because of the Spanish alliance with France during the First Coalition War . Even before his journey home, the king had raised him on February 21, 1796 to Marquess of Bute with the subordinate titles Earl of Windsor and Viscount Montjoy . In 1798 he resigned from the diplomatic service and unsuccessfully applied for the office of Lord Steward of the Household . Then he belonged again to the opposition to the Prince of Wales , who appointed him in 1800 to one of his state councilors.

Cardiff Castle after the renovations started by Stuart around 1785

Others

Since 1776 Stuart was a member of the Society of Antiquaries of London . 1793, he was from the University of Oxford , the honorary doctorate awarded. In 1799 he became a Fellow of the Royal Society and from 1800 he was a trustee of the British Museum . He began renovating and expanding Cardiff Castle , which he stopped after his eldest son's fatal hunting accident in 1794.

Family and offspring

From his first marriage to Charlotte Hickman-Windsor he had the following children:

After the sudden death of his first wife from a stroke on January 28, 1800, he married Frances Coutts on September 17, 1800 , a daughter of the banker Thomas Coutts and his first wife Susan Starkie . From this marriage he had the following children:

He was buried in the family grave in Roath near Cardiff . Since his eldest son John had died in 1794, his eldest son, his grandson John Crichton-Stuart inherited his possessions and titles.

Web links

Commons : John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute  - Collection of pictures, videos and audio files

Individual evidence

  1. ^ History of Parliament Online: Stuart, Hon. John (1767–1794), of Cardiff Castle, Glam. Retrieved September 4, 2014 .
predecessor Office successor
New title created Marquess of Bute
1796-1814 		John Crichton-Stuart
Mary Stuart Baron Mount Stuart
1794-1814 		John Crichton-Stuart
John Stuart Earl of Bute
1792-1814 		John Crichton-Stuart
New title created Baron Cardiff
1776-1814 		John Crichton-Stuart
personal data
SURNAME Stuart, John, 1st Marquess of Bute
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Stuart, John, 4th Earl of Bute; Stuart, John, 1st Baron of Cardiff
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British nobleman, diplomat and politician
DATE OF BIRTH June 30, 1744
PLACE OF BIRTH Mount Stuart House
DATE OF DEATH November 16, 1814
Place of death Geneva , Switzerland