Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart

Statue in Memory of Lord Ninian. Situated in Gorsedd Gardens, Cardiff. Sculpted by William Goscombe John (1860-1952)

Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart (15 May 1883 – 2 October 1915) was a British Member of Parliament killed in the First World War.

Early life

Lord Ninian was the second son of John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute and the Honourable Gwendolen Mary Anne Fitzalan Howard, daughter of Edward Fitzalan-Howard, 1st Baron Howard of Glossop. He was educated at Harrow School and Christ Church, Oxford. He was commissioned in 1903 into the 3rd Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and then served for two years in 1st Battalion, the Scots Guards.

Political career

Crichton-Stuart in a photograph published The Illustrated London News on 17 December 1910 following his election

He left the army after his marriage to the Hon. Ismay Preston in 1906 to concentrate on politics. In 1907 he was adopted as the Unionist candidate for the United Boroughs of Cardiff, Cowbridge and Llantrisant. He lost the election to D.A. Thomas in January 1910 but was successful in winning the seat in the December 1910 election.

First World War and death

Crichton-Stuart from the Roll of Honour published in The Illustrated London News on 16 October 1915

In 1912 he took command of the 6th Battalion, the Welsh Regiment. He was killed in action on 2 October 1915 during the Battle of Loos while leading the 6th Welsh in a night attack on the Hohenzollern Redoubt, near La Bassée, aged 32. He is buried at Bethune Town Cemetery.^[1] Lord Ninian is commemorated on Panel 8 of the Parliamentary War Memorial in Westminster Hall, one of 22 MPs that died during World War I to be named on that memorial.^[2][3] Lord Ninian is one of 19 MPs who fell in the war who are commemorated by heraldic shields in the Commons Chamber.^[4] A further act of commemoration came with the unveiling in 1932 of a manuscript-style illuminated book of remembrance for the House of Commons, which includes a short biographical account of the life and death of Lord Ninian.^[5][6]

Family

Crichton-Stuart in a photograph published in The Illustrated London News on 17 December 1910

Lord Ninian married the Honourable Ismay Lucretia Mary Preston, daughter of Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston and Georgina Jane Connelan, on 16 June 1906; they had 4 children:

• Ninian Patrick Crichton-Stuart (31 October 1907 - 4 February 1910)
• Ismay Catherine Crichton-Stuart (23 December 1909 - 1989); she married, firstly, John Anthony Hardinge Giffard, 3rd Earl of Halsbury on 1 October 1930, but they divorced in 1936, having produced one son together. She married, secondly, Donald Walter Munro Ross on 30 August 1937, and had issue, one daughter with him.^[7]
• Claudia Miriam Joanna Crichton-Stuart (24 June 1913 - 19 June 1985)^[8]
• Major Michael Duncan David Crichton-Stuart (14 March 1915 - 1981); he married Barbara Symes, daughter of Sir George Stewart Symes, on 1 March 1941, and had issue one son and three daughters (the two elder being adopted). The son has one son and one daughter by his late wife, these two representing the heirs male of Lord Ninian.^[9]

After his death, his widow remarried on 30 April 1917 Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay (4 May 1894 - 11 March 1955), later a Scottish Unionist MP for Peebles and South Midlothian 1931-1945; he is better known today as one of the most prominent British fascists. Ramsay and his wife had four sons together. Mrs Ramsay died 16 February 1975 aged 92, and was survived by six of her eight children.

Other information

Unfinished chapel at Falkland, Fife, that is also a memorial to Crichton-Stuart

Lord Ninian held the office of Justice of the Peace (JP) for Fife.

He held the office of MP for Cardiff between 1910 and 1915.

He gained the rank of Lieutenant-Colonel in the service of the 6th Battalion, Welsh Regiment.

Ninian Park, the home of Cardiff City Football Club was named after Lord Ninian, following Lord Ninian's help in agreeing to become guarantor for the new ground.

References

1. "Casualty Details: Crichton-Stuart, Lord Ninian Edward". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
2. "Recording Angel memorial Panel 8". Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
3. "List of names on the Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall" (pdf). Recording Angel memorial, Westminster Hall. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
4. "Crichton-Stuart". Heraldic shields to MPs, First World War. UK Parliament (www.parliament.uk). Retrieved 31 August 2016.
5. "House of Commons War Memorial: Final Volumes Unveiled by The Speaker". The Times (46050). London. 6 February 1932. p. 7.
6. Moss-Blundell, Edward Whitaker, ed. (1931). The House of Commons Book of Remembrance 1914–1918. E. Mathews & Marrot.
7. Darryl Lundy. "Ismay Catherine Crichton-Stuart" The Peerage.com database. Retrieved 4 May 2008
8. According to some sources, she was married in 1948 to one Peter Vigne and lived in South Africa. However, Lundy's database, based on Burke's Peerage, gives no such marriage for her.
9. Darryl Lundy. "Michael Duncan David Crichton-Stuart" The Peerage.com database. Retrieved 4 May 2008

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart
• Portraits of Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart (1883-1915) at the National Portrait Gallery, London