Sir Edward Cust, 1st Baronet

Sir Edward Cust, 1st Baronet, KCH (17 March 1794 – 14 January 1878) was a British soldier, politician and courtier.

Early life He was born in Hill Street, Berkeley Square, London, Middlesex, in 1794, the sixth son of the Brownlow Cust, 1st Baron Brownlow and his second wife Frances Bankes (1756–1847). His older brothers were John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow, Peregrine Cust, Rev. Henry Cockayne Cust and William Cust.

Cust was educated at Eton College, and the Royal Military College. In 1810, he joined the 16th Regiment of Light Dragoons as a cadet and was Captain of the 5th Regiment of Dragoon Guards from 1816 and Major of the 55th Regiment of Foot from 1821.

Parliamentarian From 1818, Cust sat in Parliament as member of parliament for Grantham until 1826 and then for Lostwithiel from 1826 to 1832. In 1831, he was knighted and appointed a KCH by William IV for his military service.

After the Burning of Parliament in 1834, Cust proposed that the new Houses of Parliament should be to a design chosen in an open competition. He prevailed on Sir Robert Peel, Prime Minister in late 1834, and a competition was held. Cust in this way successfully opposed the appointment of Robert Smirke to be the architect. Peel was replaced by Lord Melbourne as Prime Minister in April 1835, and it was decided to proceed with the competition along Cust's lines, with the style limited to Elizabethan or Gothic, so rejecting the neo-classical.

In 1835 Cust was appointed one of the Royal Commissioners for reporting on the plans offered. The others, all amateurs from the point of view of architectural knowledge, were Charles Hanbury-Tracy, Thomas Liddell, 1st Baron Ravensworth, Samuel Rogers and George Vivian. The successful design was that of Charles Barry, whom Cust knew from the Travellers' Club.

Later life In 1859 Cust was given the colonelcy for life of the 16th (The Queen's) Regiment of (Light) Dragoons (Lancers). In 1876, he was made a baronet. Mary inherited from her mother Margaret, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Dannett of Liverpool and a widow by 1802, the Greenwich Park estate in Demerara, on her death c.1827. Before Margaret's death, in the 1823–4 parliamentary session, Cust was appointed to the committee of the West India planters and merchants there.

The couple had a son and five daughters. Louisa Mary Ann (died 1863), married in 1862 the Rev. John James Moss. He was the son of John Moss (1782–1858), the plantation owner and Liverpool banker. Victoria Mary Louisa (died 1895) married 1846 Simon Yorke III (died 1894) of Erddig. Ethelred or Etheldreda Victoria (died 1893), married 1864 Charles Henry Congreve (died 1875). Henrietta Maria Christina (died 1846), did not marry.