John Stuart (25 May 1713 – 10 March 1792), also known as Lord Bute, was Prime Minister of Great Britain from 26 May to 8 April 1763, succeeding Thomas Pelham-Holles and preceding George Grenville. He was the first Scottish prime minister of Britain and the first Tory Party member to hold the office.
Biography[]
John Stuart was born in Edinburgh, Midlothian, Scotland on 25 May 1713, and he became the Earl of Bute on his father's death in 1723. From 1720 to 1728, he studied at Eton College, and he studied at the University of Leiden in the Netherlands from 1728 to 1732. In 1737, he was elected to the House of Lords as a Tory Party member, but he was not re-elected in 1741. In 1755, he became tutor to the future King George III due to his friendship with Frederick, Prince of Wales; he was suspected of having a relationship with the prince's widow Augusta of Saxe-Gotha after Frederick's death. In 1763, he was appointed de facto Prime Minister after Thomas Pelham-Holles' resignation, making him the first Scot and the first Tory Party member to hold the position. In his brief premiership, he negotiated an end to the Seven Years' War with France, and he was forced to resign due to the implementation of an unpopular cider tax and a stinging satirical newspaper article by John Wilkes targeting Stuart. Stuart returned to his estate in Hampshire, and he died in Westminster, Middlesex in 1792.