and Crichton-Stuart frequently visited the city, including accompanying his father on visits to Bute docks. He also learnt to speak Welsh. Crichton-Stuart later chose to enter the army and was commissioned in 1903 into the 3rd Battalion of the Queen's Own Cameron Highlanders and then served for two years in the 1st Battalion, the Scots Guards as a 2nd lieutenant. Marriage, philanthropy and political career In 1905, Crichton-Stuart met the Honourable Ismay Preston, the only daughter of Jenico Preston, 14th Viscount Gormanston and Georgina Jane Connelan, at the wedding of his brother John Crichton-Stuart and Augusta Bellingham where he was best man and Preston was a bridesmaid. The couple announced their engagement in January 1906 and married six months later, on 16 June, at her family estate at Gormanston Castle. 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. Crichton-Stuart first served on Fife County Council in his native Scotland and took a keen interest in local agriculture, becoming president of Fife Agricultural Society. 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. Crichton-Stuart also held the office of Justice of the Peace (JP) for Fife. Crichton-Stuart's family had a history of serving in parliament for the Cardiff area, his great uncle Lord Patrick Crichton-Stuart having held the post on two occasions. In August 1907, at a meeting of the Cardiff Conservative Association, Crichton-Stuart was invited by Herbert Cory and his supporting panel to be the Unionist candidate for the United Boroughs of Cardiff, Cowbridge and Llantrisant. Soon after his selection, he and his wife had their first child, named Ninian Patrick Crichton-Stuart, on 31 October 1907. Lord Ninian's campaign for election was based on reform of the poor law and extending the age range of the old age pension. He also stated of his desire of preserving and strengthening the military forces of Britain. He lost the election to Liberal candidate David Alfred Thomas in January 1910 but did manage to reduce the majority by half from the previous election in 1906. Despite his defeat, his popularity among voters was increasing and at the end of the election campaign a