View source for Sophia Crichton-Stuart, Marchioness of Bute

{{Short description|Scottish noblewoman (1809–1859)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox person
| honorific_prefix = [[The Most Honourable]]
| name = The Marchioness of Bute
| image = File:Sophia Crichton-Stuart, Marchioness of Bute.jpg
| caption =
| birthname = Lady Sophia Frederica Christina Rawdon-Hastings
| birth_date = 1 February 1809
| birth_place = [[St James's Place]], London, England<ref>''1851 Wales Census''</ref>
| death_date = {{dda|28 December 1859|1 February 1809|df=y}}
| death_place = [[Edinburgh]], Scotland
| burial_place = [[Rothesay]], [[Isle of Bute]]
| spouse = {{marriage|[[John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute]]|1845|1848|end=d}}
| children = [[John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute]]
| parents = [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moira]]<br />[[Flora Campbell, 6th Countess of Loudoun]]
}}
'''Sophia Frederica Christina Crichton-Stuart, Marchioness of Bute''' (''née'' '''Lady Sophia  Rawdon-Hastings'''; 1 February 1809 &ndash; 28 December 1859) was a Scottish noblewoman. She was the second wife of [[John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute]], and the mother of [[John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute|the 3rd Marquess]]. Cardiff's [[Sophia Gardens]] are named after her.<ref name="Mortimer2014">{{cite book|author=Dic Mortimer|title=Cardiff The Biography|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=_pkFBQAAQBAJ&pg=PT173|date=15 October 2014|publisher=Amberley Publishing Limited|isbn=978-1-4456-4251-2|pages=173}}</ref>
==Family background==
[[File:Sophia, Marchioness of Bute window, St John the Baptist church, Cardiff - 2022-08-19.jpg|thumb|right|Arms of Sophia, Marchioness of Bute (centre pane), surrounded by her paternal arms, on a window at [[St John the Baptist Church, Cardiff]]]]
Sophia was the daughter of [[Flora Campbell, 6th Countess of Loudoun]], and her husband [[Francis Rawdon-Hastings, 1st Marquess of Hastings|Francis Rawdon-Hastings, Earl of Moira]]. Her father became [[Governor-General of India]] and [[Governor of Malta]] and was raised to the rank of Marquess of Hastings in 1816. He died in 1826. Sophia's elder sister was [[Lady Flora Hastings]], a lady-in-waiting at the court of [[Queen Victoria]] of the United Kingdom. Lady Flora died in 1839 of a tumour, in circumstances that gave rise to a scandal in the court, and was nursed by Sophia. Their mother died in the following year.<ref name="Hannah2012"/> Lady Flora wrote poetry, and after her death Sophia edited an edition of her poems.<ref>{{cite book |last1=Hastings |first1=Flora |editor1-last=Hastings |editor1-first=Sophia F. C. |title=Poems by the Lady Flora Hastings |date=1841 |publisher=William Blackwood and Sons |location=Edinburgh |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=rxpkAAAAcAAJ&pg=PA0 |oclc=1049072964}}</ref>
Sophia married the Marquess of Bute, who was fifteen years older than her, on 10 April 1845 at [[Loudoun Castle]], Ayrshire,<ref>Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003. volume 1, page 610.</ref> his first wife, Lady Maria North, having died in 1841. He had no children from his first marriage, and died aged 54 in Cardiff,<ref name="Venn2011">{{cite book|author=John Venn|title=Alumni Cantabrigienses: A Biographical List of All Known Students, Graduates and Holders of Office at the University of Cambridge, from the Earliest Times to 1900|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=MWSiYp0-AGEC&pg=PA73|date=15 September 2011|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-1-108-03616-0|pages=73}}</ref> only three years after his second marriage, leaving a six-month-old son who succeeded to the marquessate.
Sophia's first pregnancy had ended in a stillbirth.<ref name="Hannah2012"/> Her son John, the [[John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute|3rd Marquess]], was born on 12 September 1847 at [[Mount Stuart House]] on the [[Isle of Bute]], Scotland.<ref>{{cite book|author=Thomas Nicholas|title=Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales: Containing a Record of All Ranks of the Gentry ... with Many Ancient Pedigrees and Memorials of Old and Extinct Families|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=qjIwAAAAYAAJ&pg=PA619|year=1872|publisher=Longmans, Green, Reader|pages=619}}</ref><ref>{{Cite ODNB |first=K. D. |last=Reyonds |title=Stuart, John Patrick Crichton-, third marquess of Bute |id=26722}}</ref>
==Philanthropy==
The marchioness's Scottish roots did not prevent her taking an interest in the city of Cardiff, where her husband had had vast commercial and industrial interests. Sophia was an early supporter of the [[Welsh language]]; seeking to learn it herself, giving money for the establishment of the Welsh college at [[Llandovery]], and providing financial assistance for the [[Eisteddfod]].<ref name="Davies1981">{{cite book|author=John Davies|title=Cardiff and the Marquesses of Bute|url=https://www.worldcat.org/oclc/731224268|date=1981|publisher=University of Wales Press|isbn=0-7083-0761-2|pages=101–131|oclc=731224268}}</ref> She was also responsible for donating the land and financing the construction of All Saints Church for Welsh-speaking Anglicans, in Tyndall Street, Cardiff.<ref>{{cite web|url=https://parish.churchinwales.org.uk/l301/history/|title=History|website=Church in Wales|access-date=16 June 2019}}</ref> She took a particular interest in the appointment of [[clergy]] to [[Benefice|livings]] in South Wales. In 1848 she wrote to her husband's agent, expressing her dismay at the action of the then  [[Lord Chancellor]], [[Charles Pepys, 1st Earl of Cottenham|the Earl of Cottenham]], who had the patronage of the parish of [[Llanilid]] and had presented the parish, "where hardly anyone speaks English, (to) a man ''without Welsh''".<ref name="Davies1981"/>
In 1858, it was Sophia who granted the people of Cardiff the use of the Bute estates between Cathedral Road and the [[River Taff]] for use as the town's first public park.<ref name="Mortimer2014"/> The 18-acre park, named [[Sophia Gardens]], was financed by the Marchioness and included a lodge, flower beds, landscaping and an ornamental pond, supervised by her head gardener and ready to be opened by the summer.<ref>{{cite news |url=https://newspapers.library.wales/view/4349804/4349808 |title=Glamorganshire |work= The Welshman |date=12 March 1858 |page=4 |via=Welsh Newspapers online }}</ref>
==Death==
The marchioness died, aged fifty, in [[Edinburgh]], with her twelve-year-old son at her bedside.<ref name="Hannah2012">{{cite book|author=Rosemary Hannah|title=The Grand Designer: Third Marquess of Bute|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=gsC8BQAAQBAJ&pg=PA1521|date=30 July 2012|publisher=Birlinn|isbn=978-0-85790-227-6|pages=1505–1525}}</ref> In her will, she left provision for almshouses to be built near Edinburgh, which she specified were to be named the "Flora Almshouses" after her mother and sister.<ref>{{cite book|title=The Scottish Law Reporter: Continuing Reports ... of Cases Decided in the Court of Session, Court of Justiciary, Court of Teinds, and House of Lords|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=Zk4vAAAAIAAJ|year=1881|publisher=W.&R.A. Veitch|page=192}}</ref><ref>{{cite web |title=Clayton and Gibson papers |url=http://reed.dur.ac.uk/xtf/view?docId=ark/32150_s14q77fr330.xml |website=Durham University |accessdate=18 June 2019}} Summary of the will of Sophia Frederica Christina, Marchioness of Bute.</ref> The young marquess arranged for a cast to be taken of his mother's face. A post-mortem confirmed the cause of death as [[Bright's disease]].<ref name="Hannah2012"/>
The marchioness was buried in the family vault at [[Rothesay]] on the Isle of Bute. In his eulogy, the officiating minister described her as "one firm, yet gentle, loving and wise".<ref name="Hannah2012"/>
==References==
{{reflist}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bute, Sophia Crichton-Stuart, Marchioness of}}
[[Category:1809 births]]
[[Category:1859 deaths]]
[[Category:Nobility from East Ayrshire]]
[[Category:Scottish marchionesses]]
[[Category:Daughters of British marquesses]]
[[Category:Daughters of Scottish earls]]
[[Category:Scottish philanthropists]]
[[Category:Stuart of Bute family|Sophia]]