Augusta Mary Monica Crichton-Stuart, Marchioness of Bute, (19 August 1880 – 16 May 1947), was an Anglo-Irish aristocrat who was a daughter of Sir Henry Bellingham, 4th Baronet, and Lady Constance Julia Eleanor Georgiana Noel, daughter of Charles Noel, 2nd Earl of Gainsborough.

Marriage and children

On 6 July 1905, she married John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute (1881-1947), son of John Patrick Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, and Hon. Gwendolen Mary Anne Fitzalan-Howard. Their wedding was held at Castle Bellingham, in the village of Castlebellingham in County Louth, Ireland, and was followed by a party at Mount Stuart House in Scotland. A film company was hired to film the event; and it served as one of the earliest examples of the aristocratic classes making a private film. Both her father and her father-in-law were noted converts to Roman Catholicism. After her marriage, Augusta Bellingham was styled as The Marchioness of Bute and her married name became Crichton-Stuart. She and her husband had seven children.

War service

During the First World War, the marchioness opened up the family home at Mount Stuart as a military hospital. It was handed to the Admiralty and was a Naval Hospital from 1914-1918. She herself trained to carry out nursing duties, at the Scottish General Hospital at Stobhill. In recognition of her services, she was invested as a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in 1918. She was also invested as a Dame of Grace, Order of St. John of Jerusalem, and decorated with the Médaille de la Reine Elisabeth of Belgium. She also worked as a nurse, known as Nurse Stuart, with Professor Hepburn at the Third Western Hospital in Cardiff.

Death

Lord Bute died on 25 April 1947, aged 65. Lady Bute followed almost a month later, in Rothesay on 16 May 1947, aged 66.