John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow, GCH (19 August 1779 – 15 September 1853) was a British Peer and Tory politician.[1]
John Cust's funerary monument in Belton Church, Lincolnshire
Life
Belton House
Cust was the eldest son of the 1st Baron Brownlow and his second wife, Frances. He was educated at Eton (1788–93) and Trinity College, Cambridge (1797) before undertaking a European tour of Russia and Germany in 1801. In 1802 he was elected the MP for Clitheroe, holding the seat until 1807,[1] when he succeeded his father's title and estates, including Belton House near Grantham, Lincolnshire.
According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Brownlow was awarded compensation under the Slave Compensation Act 1837. In 1821, Brownlow's younger brother, Sir Edward Cust, 1st Baronet (1794–1878), had married Mary Anne Boode (1799–1882). Mary was the daughter and heiress of Lewis William and Margaret Boode (née Dannett). The Boodes were a prominent Dutch, slave owning family. Brownlow and Wilbraham Egerton of Tatton Park acted as co-trustees and executors of Margaret Boode's estate when she died in 1827.[4]
Family
On 24 July 1810, Lord Brownlow married Sophia Hume, the second daughter and coheiress of Sir Abraham Hume, Bt., with whom he had three children:
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:
As his eldest son had pre-deceased him in 1851, on his own death in 1853 his titles and estates passed to his grandson, John William Spencer Egerton-Cust[5]
^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.