General Sir Edward Cust
(1794-1878)
3 February 1862

Volume 6, page 11, sitting number 6916.

According to ‘Wills and Bequests’ in The Times, General the Honourable 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 Honourable 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.

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:

The broken soldier, kindly bade to stay;
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.