Lieutenant-Colonel Lord Ninian Edward Crichton-Stuart (15 May 1883 – 2 October 1915) was a Scottish senior officer in the British Army and Member of Parliament.

The second son of the Honourable Gwendolen Mary Anne Fitzalan-Howard and John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, he entered the army in 1903 and served in the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and the Scots Guards as a lieutenant.

After eleven months on the front line, he was shot in the head and killed when leading his men in an attempt to repel a German counter-attack on 2 October 1915 during the Battle of Loos.

[8][9] Following their marriage, Crichton-Stuart transferred into the Army Reserve and decided to enter politics in order to be closer to his wife and manage his family's estate in Falkland, Fife.

[5] He was later named as a member of a committee appointed by the president of the Board of Agriculture and Fisheries to study the rights of tenant farmers when their land was sold or their landlords died.

[2] Despite his defeat, his popularity among voters was increasing and at the end of the election campaign a crowd of thousands of people came to see Crichton-Stuart and his wife travel to the train station.

The procession stopped briefly outside Cardiff Conservative Club where Crichton-Stuart shook hands with numerous people and gave a short speech before continuing to the station.

[2] With a history in the military, the majority of the issues he raised before parliament concerned the armed forces, including the high costs officers were faced with during manoeuvres and a petition to improve the weaponry provided to the British cavalry units.

A keen sportsman himself, being proficient in shooting, fishing and motoring,[2] he stabled horses in Cardiff and entered them into steeplechase competitions and races at Ely Racecourse.

[17] The ground was officially opened on 1 September 1910 and Crichton-Stuart performed the kick-off for a friendly match between Cardiff and Football League First Division side Aston Villa.

[1] It was an experienced unit, being the oldest Swansea volunteer corps,[2] that were often used as a guard of honour during royal visits and Crichton-Stuart's wife Ismay chose the battalion colours of scarlet, silver and green.

In July 1915, they were transferred to the front and took part in operations at Heuvelland where they were labelled "the lucky 6th" by other units due to their relatively low number of wounded and Crichton-Stuart gained a reputation as a leader who was "always concerned with the welfare of his men".

[4] On the night of 1 October 1915, during the Battle of Loos, the 6th Battalion was part of a force that successfully charged and captured a set of enemy trenches at the Hohenzollern Redoubt, near La Bassée, despite suffering heavy losses.

[7][22] On 30 April 1917 Crichton-Stuart's widow, Ismay, married Captain Archibald Henry Maule Ramsay (4 May 1894 – 11 March 1955), later a Scottish Unionist MP for Peebles and South Midlothian 1931–1945.

[26] 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 his life and death.

[29] Sculpted by Sir William Goscombe John, the statue was placed in Gorsedd Gardens in Cathays Park and depicts Crichton-Stuart in military uniform with binoculars in his right hand and papers in his left in a design intended to show him surveying the battlefield.