MARK OF JOHN CROUCH II, LONDON, 1809

Richard Cust was educated at Eton College and Trinity College, Cambridge, After graduating he toured Europe visiting Russia and Germany. In 1801 he was made a Fellow of the Royal Society of Antiquaries and became a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1805. In later life he was President of the Royal Archaeological Society from 1841 to 1849. He sat as M.P. for Clitheroe from 1802 until he succeeded his father on the latter's death in 1807 and sat in the House of Lords. He served as Lord Lieutenant of Lincolnshire from 1809 until 1852. In 1815, he was created 1st Earl Brownlow and 1st Viscount Alford.

He was married three times. He had five children from his first marriage to Amelia Sophia Hume (1788-1814), daughter of Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Bt. and Lady Amelia Egerton. It was through the Egerton line that his son by this marriage, John, Viscount Alford, who predeceased his father, succeeded the vast estates of the Dowager Countess of Bridgwater. Lord Brownlow married Caroline Fludyer (1794-1824), daughter of George Fludyer and Lady Mary Fane, in 1818 and the couple had four daughters. His third marriage to Lady Emma Sophia Edgcumbe (1791-1872), daughter of Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, was childless.