A portrait of Brownlow Cust by Francis Cotes

Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow FRS FSA (3 December 1744 – 25 December 1807), of Belton House near Grantham in Lincolnshire (known as Sir Brownlow Cust, 4th Baronet, from 1770 to 1776), was a British Tory Member of Parliament.

Origins

He was the son and heir of Sir John Cust, 3rd Baronet (1718–1770), Speaker of the House of Commons, by his wife Etheldreda Payne, a daughter of Thomas Payne of Hough-on-the-Hill, Lincolnshire.[1]

Career

Cust was educated at Eton College and Corpus Christi College, Cambridge.[2] In 1766 he was elected as a Member of Parliament for Ilchester in Somerset, a seat he held until 1774, and then represented Grantham between 1774 and 1776, in which year he was raised to the peerage as Baron Brownlow, "of Belton in the County of Lincoln".[3] The peerage was chiefly in recognition of his father's services, and the name of his title refers to his paternal grandmother Anne Brownlow (Lady Cust), sister and heiress in her issue of John Brownlow, 1st Viscount Tyrconnel, of Belton House, and wife of Sir Richard Cust, 2nd Baronet. In 1776 he was made a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London and in 1783 was made a Fellow of the Royal Society.[4]

Belton House

Belton House, near Grantham, Lincolnshire, inherited in 1779 by 1st Baron Brownlow

In 1779 Cust inherited Belton House, near Grantham in Lincolnshire, under the will of his paternal grandmother, Anne Brownlow (Lady Cust), wife of Sir Richard Cust, 2nd Baronet and sister, and in her issue heiress, of John Brownlow, 1st Viscount Tyrconnel (1690–1754), of Belton House.[5]

Monument to Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow, by Richard Westmacott, in St Peter and St Paul's Church, Belton

Marriages and progeny

Cust married twice:

  • Firstly, in 1770, to Jocosa Katherina Drury (d. 1772), daughter and heiress of Sir Thomas Drury, 1st Baronet (1712–1759) of Overstone in Northamptonshire, by whom he had one daughter. His wife died two years after the marriage. Their daughter Elizabeth Cust catalogued the pictures at the family home of Belton in 1805–6 and produced several copies of the Old Masters in the collection, as well as original portraits of her younger siblings William, Edward, and Anne.[6][7]
Frances, Baroness Brownlow and her eldest son John, double portrait by George Romney

Arms

Coat of arms of Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow
Crest
A Lion's Head erased Sable gorged with a Collar paly wavy of six Argent and Azure
Escutcheon
Ermine on a Chevron Sable three Fountains proper
Supporters
On either side a Lion reguardant Argent each gorged with a Collar paly wavy of six Argent and Azure
Motto
Esse Quam Videri (To be, rather than to seem)

    References

    1. ↑ Barker, George Fisher Russell (1888). "Cust, John" . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 13. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
    2. ↑ "Cust, Brownlow (CST762B)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
    3. ↑ "No. 11665". The London Gazette. 11 May 1776. p. 2.
    4. ↑ "Fellows 1660–2007" (PDF). Royal Society. Retrieved 12 October 2016.
    5. ↑ "CUST, Sir Brownlow, 4th Bt. (1744–1807), of Belton, Lincs". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 5 February 2018.
    6. ↑ Trust, National. "Results, Maker: "The Hon. Elizabeth Cust (1776 - 1858)"". www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
    7. ↑ Trust, National. "The Hon. William Cust (1787-1845) 436085". www.nationaltrustcollections.org.uk. Retrieved 29 November 2023.
    8. ↑ Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. p. 544. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
    9. ↑ 1851 England Census
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