John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow


John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow, GCH was a British Peer and Tory politician.

Life

Cust was the eldest son of the 1st Baron Brownlow and his second wife, Frances. He was educated at Eton and Trinity College, Cambridge 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. From 1809–52, he was Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire and in 1815 was created Earl Brownlow and Viscount Alford, of Alford, in the County of Lincoln. He was appointed to the Royal Guelphic Order as a Knight Grand Cross in 1834.
According to the Legacies of British Slave-Ownership at the University College London, Brownlow was awarded a payment as a slave trader in the aftermath of the Slavery Abolition Act 1833 with the Slave Compensation Act 1837. The British Government took out a £15 million loan with interest from Nathan Mayer Rothschild and Moses Montefiore which was subsequently paid off by the British taxpayers. Brownlow was associated with "T71/885 British Guiana claim no. 716A&B ", he owned 185 slaves in British Guiana and received a £10,058 payment at the time.

Family

On 24 July 1810, Lord Brownlow married Sophia Hume, the second daughter and coheiress of Sir Abraham Hume, Bt., with whom 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. Brownlow and Caroline had four daughters:
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