The sitters were the children of Sir Edward Cust, Bt., youngest son of the 1st Lord Brownlow and a distinguished military figure, and Anne only daughter of William Boode of Peover Hall, Cheshire and heiress through her mother Margaret (née Dannett) to Leasowe Castle, Birkenhead. Leopold Cust became Gentleman Usher to Queen Victoria. He married, in 1863, Charlotte, 4th daughter of Vice Admiral the Hon. Charles Bridgeman and succeeded in 1878 to the Baronetcy.