The 3rd Marquess of Bute James Pittendrigh MacGillivray (1856-1938). Unveiled 1930. Bronze on a granite pedestal with bronze inscriptions and heraldry. Friary Gardens, Cardiff. Listed in the city's Public Art Register as "Commemorative" (31) this is one of the most important of the Scottish sculptor MacGillivray's few public monuments. The voluminous robes make the figure look especially impressive. [Click on images to enlarge them.]
The 3rd Marquess of Bute (John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 1847-1900) was only an infant when his father died, leaving him, through his trustees, "the greatest landholding and property rights of mid-nineteenth-century Britain" (McLees 14). The family was of noble Scottish descent, but the 1st Marquess had married well (first into the Windsor and then into the Coutts families), augmenting the family fortunes and interests, particularly in South Wales. The 2nd Marquess had not only married equally well, but developed the coal resources of South Wales: the Bute West Dock was completed in Cardiff in 1839. The 3rd Marquess grew up to be something of an eccentric. A convert to Catholicism, he immersed himself in medievalism and developed a keen interest in building. He commissioned the architect William Burges to make Cardiff Castle and nearby Castell Coch into sumptuous "medieval" residences for him. The Marquess's early life inspired Disraeli's novel Lothair.
Photographs by the author 2009. [You may use these images without prior permission for any scholarly or educational purpose as long as you (1) credit the Internet Archive and (2) link your document to this URL in a web document or cite the Victorian Web in a print one.]
Bibliography
Cardiff Public Art Register, 2nd ed. Cardiff, 2008. Available through Cardiff Council's Public Arts site.
McLees, David. Castell Coch. Cardiff: Cadw (Crown Copyright), rev. ed. 2005.
Created 1 November 2009
Last modified 13 February 2020