Landed aristocrat, industrial magnate, antiquarian, scholar, philanthropist, and architectural patron. Born Scotland. His vast inheritance, aged 6 months reportedly made him the richest man (actually, baby) in the world.
His conversion to Catholicism from the Church of Scotland at the age of 21 scandalised Victorian society and led Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli to use the Marquess as the basis for the eponymous hero of his novel Lothair, published in 1870. Marrying into one of Britain's most illustrious Catholic families, Bute became one of the leaders of the British Catholic community. His enormous expenditure on building and restoration made him the foremost architectural patron of the 19th century.
Connected to Wales through his father's development of Cardiff as a port to export the mineral wealth of the South Wales Valleys.
This photo gives him a touch of the Clement Freud.
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