General Sir Edward Cust
According to ‘Wills and Bequests’ in The Times, General the Hon Sir Edward Cust KCH, late of Leasowe Castle, Chester, died on 14 January 1878 and was survived by his wife, Mary Anne, at one time Woman of the Bedchamber to the Duchess of Kent; his son, Leopold Cust; and two daughters. He was 83 years old. According to the IGI, he was born on 17 March 1794, the son of Sir Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Cust of Belton.
The Hon General Sir Edward Cust was created 1st Baronet Cust, of Leasowe Castle, Cheshire, on 26 February 1876. He was one of the last three British Knights Commanders of the Royal Hanoverian Guelphic Order, the order not having been conferred by the British Crown since the death of William IV, when the British sovereign ceased to be the monarch of Hanover.
Photographed by Camille Silvy on 3 February 1862.
An inked inscription verso in a fine period hand reads: 'Shoulder'd his crutch and shewed how fields were won'. The full quote, from Oliver Goldsmith's The Deserted Village, is:
Sat by his fire, and talked the night away,
Wept o’er his wounds, or tales of sorrow done,
Shoulder’d his crutch, and shewed how fields were won.
Code: 123148
