John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow

John Cust's funerary monument in Belton Church, Lincolnshire

John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow, GCH (19 August 1779 – 15 September 1853) was a British Peer and Tory politician.

Life

Cust was the eldest son of the 1st Baron Brownlow and his second wife, Frances. In 1802, he was elected as MP for Clitheroe and held the seat until he succeeded to his father's title in 1807. In May 1805, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.^[1]

From 1809–52, he was Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire and was created Earl Brownlow and Viscount Alford, of Alford, in the County of Lincoln in 1815.^[2] He was appointed to the Royal Guelphic Order as a Knight Grand Cross (GCH) in 1834.^[3]

Family

On 24 July 1810, Lord Brownlow married Sophia Hume (the second daughter and coheiress of Sir Abraham Hume, Bt.) and they had three children:

• Lady Sophia Frances, (1811–1882) (allegedly a friend of Augustus Smith and a regular visitor to Tresco), married Lt-Col Christopher Tower. Mother of Amelia, Countess de Salis
• John Hume, Viscount Alford (1812–1851)
• Hon Charles Henry (1813–1875)

Brownlow's wife died in 1814, and on 22 September 1818, he married Caroline Fludyer daughter of George Fludyer of Ayston, Rutland (and a granddaughter of Sir Samuel Fludyer, Bt). Brownlow and Caroline had four daughters:

• Lady Caroline Mary Cust, (1819–1898)
• Lady Amelia Cust, (1820/21–?)
• Lady Katherine Anne Cust, (1822–1885)
• Lady Elizabeth Cust, (1824–1824)

Caroline died in 1824 and Brownlow then married Lady Emma Sophia Edgcumbe (a daughter of the 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe). Lord Brownlow did have not any children with his third wife. As his eldest son had pre-deceased him in 1851, on his own death in 1853, his titles passed to his grandson, John William Spencer Egerton Cust.^[4]

Styles of address

• 1779-1801: The Honourable John Cust
• 1801-1802: The Honourable John Cust FSA
• 1802-1805: The Honourable John Cust FSA MP
• 1805-1807: The Honourable John Cust FRS FSA MP
• 1807-1815: The Right Honourable The Lord Brownlow FRS FSA^{[lower-alpha 1]}
• 1815-1853: The Right Honourable The Earl Brownlow FRS FSA

1. Although The Lord Brownlow was a baronet, by custom the post-nominal of "Bt" is omitted, as Peers of the Realm do not list subsidiary hereditary titles.

References

1. "Fellows 1660-2007" (PDF). Royal Society. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
2. The London Gazette: no. 17066. p. 1997. 30 September 1815.
3. "John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow". The Peerage. Retrieved 13 October 2016.
4. Brownlow archives. Belton House records. Handwritten letter from Amelia Cust to her sister Sophia dated 25 October 1844. Last Will and Testament of Lady Amelia Cust.