John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow

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, when he succeeded to his father's title and estates, including Belton House near Grantham, Lincolnshire.

In May 1805, he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society.[1] From 1809 to 1852, he was Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire and in 1815 was created Earl Brownlow and Viscount Alford, of Alford, in the County of Lincoln.[2] He was appointed to the Royal Guelphic Order as a Knight Grand Cross (GCH) in 1834.[3]

According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Brownlow was an awardee under the Slave Compensation Act 1837. In the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833, the British Government took out a £15 million loan (worth £1.43 billion in 2021[4]) with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore to compensate slave owners. The loan was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers (ending in 2015).

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. That estate included Greenwich Park, Demerara in British Guiana with 185 enslaved people. Brownlow and Egerton appear in T71/885 British Guiana claim no. 716A & B. Edward and Mary Cust, as beneficiaries of that estate received a £10,058 payment at the time (worth £962 thousand in 2021[4]).[5]

On 24 July 1810, Lord Brownlow married Sophia Hume, the second daughter and coheiress of Sir Abraham Hume, Bt., with whom 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, (1821–?)
• Lady Katherine Anne Cust, (1822–1885)
• Lady Elizabeth Cust, (1824–1824)

Caroline died in 1824 and Brownlow then married thirdly 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 and estates passed to his grandson, John William Spencer Egerton-Cust[6]