From 1818, Cust sat in
Parliament as member of parliament for
Grantham until 1826 and then for
Lostwithiel from 1826 to 1832.[3] As a Member of Parliament, he raised concerns about the management of public architectural projects, particular the works at
Buckingham House.[4] In 1831, he was
knighted and appointed a
KCH by
William IV for his military service.[3] In February 1834 he was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society.[5]
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.[6] 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.[7]
Cust married in 1821
Mary Anne Boode, daughter of Lewis William Boode of
Peover Hall in Cheshire. They had a son and five daughters.[4] The Boode family were Dutch planters in
Demerara, Lewis William being originally Lodewijk Willem Boode, and the brother of Andreas Christian Boode (1763–1844).[11] 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.[12] Before Margaret's death, in the 1823–4 parliamentary session, Cust was appointed to the committee of the West India planters and merchants there.[4]
Louisa Mary Ann (died 1863), married in 1862 the Rev. John James Moss.[16][17] He was the son of
John Moss (1782–1858), the plantation owner and Liverpool banker.[18]
Victoria Mary Louisa (died 1895) married 1846 Simon Yorke III (died 1894) of
Erddig.[19][20]
Ethelred or Etheldreda Victoria (died 1893), married 1864 Charles Henry Congreve (died 1875).[20][14][15]
Margaret Amy Frances, married 1850 Charles Randle Egerton R.N. (died 1869).[20][15] His father, Wilbraham Egerton of
Tatton Park, had been executor for Margaret Boode.[21][22]
Henrietta Maria Christina (died 1846), did not marry.[14]
^
abW. J. Rorabaugh, Politics and the Architectural Competition for the Houses of Parliament, 1834–1837, Victorian Studies Vol. 17, No. 2 (Dec., 1973), pp. 155–175, at pp. 164–167.
Published by: Indiana University Press
JSTOR3826182
^Reed, A. W. (2010). Peter Dowling (ed.). Place Names of New Zealand. Rosedale, North Shore: Raupo. p. 94.
ISBN9780143204107.
^
abcBurke, Bernard (1903). Ashworth P. Burke (ed.). A Genealogical and Heraldic Dictionary of the Peerage and Baronetage, the Privy Council, Knightage and Companionage (65th ed.). London: Harrison and Sons. p. 412.