Francis Cockayne Cust (1722 – 30 November 1791) was a British lawyer and politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

between 1770 and 1791. Cust was the second son of Sir Richard Cust, 2nd Baronet and his wife, Anne Brownlow, daughter of

Sir William Brownlow, 4th Baronet Sir William Brownlow, 4th Baronet (5 November 1665 – 6 March 1701) of Belton House near Grantham in Lincolnshire, was an English Member of Parliament. Origins He was the younger son of Sir Richard Brownlow, 2nd Baronet (died 1668) of Humby ...

and was baptised on 18 March 1722. He was educated at Grantham Grammar School and

Eton College Eton College () is a public school in Eton, Berkshire, England. It was founded in 1440 by Henry VI under the name ''Kynge's College of Our Ladye of Eton besyde Windesore'',Nevill, p. 3 ff. intended as a sister institution to King's College, C ...

in 1733. He was admitted at

King's College, Cambridge King's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Formally The King's College of Our Lady and Saint Nicholas in Cambridge, the college lies beside the River Cam and faces out onto King's Parade in the centre of the city ...

in 1738 and was a fellow from 1742. He was also admitted at Middle Temple in 1735 and called to the bar in 1742. He suffered from deafness which interfered with his professional career but obtained good practice as a Chancery lawyer. He was much trusted by his family and he was regularly consulted in their affairs, although his irascible temper did not render dealings with him easy. In 1752 he was appointed Deputy recorder for Grantham. In 1760 he was appointed Deputy recorder for Boston. Cust would have stood for

Grantham Grantham () is a market and industrial town in the South Kesteven district of Lincolnshire, England, situated on the banks of the River Witham and bounded to the west by the A1 road. It lies some 23 miles (37 km) south of the Lincoln and ...

at the

1761 general election The 1761 British general election returned members to serve in the House of Commons of Great Britain, House of Commons of the 12th Parliament of Great Britain to be summoned, after the merger of the Parliament of England and the Parliament of Sco ...

if his brother

John John is a common English name and surname: * John (given name) * John (surname) John may also refer to: New Testament Works * Gospel of John, a title often shortened to John * First Epistle of John, often shortened to 1 John * Second ...

had contested Lincolnshire instead. But as John Cust remained at Grantham until his death in 1770, Francis had to wait nearly ten years. Lord William Manners planned an opposition at Grantham but in the event Francis Cust was returned unopposed as Member of Parliament for Grantham in the by-election on 2 February 1770. He was appointed Counsel to the Admiralty also Counsel to the University of Cambridge in 1771, holding the positions until his death. When Cust's uncle Savile Cockayne Cust died on 27 January 1772, he succeeded to the Cockayne Hatley estate and assumed name of Cockayne Cust. He became a

bencher A bencher or Master of the Bench is a senior member of an Inn of Court in England and Wales or the Inns of Court in Northern Ireland, or the Honorable Society of King's Inns in Ireland. Benchers hold office for life once elected. A bencher can ...

Middle Temple The Honourable Society of the Middle Temple, commonly known simply as Middle Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court exclusively entitled to call their members to the English Bar as barristers, the others being the Inner Temple, Gray's Inn an ...

in 1772 . In

1774 Events January–March * January 21 – Mustafa III, List of Ottoman Sultans, Sultan of the Ottoman Empire, dies and is succeeded by his brother Abdul Hamid I. * January 27 ** An angry crowd in Boston, Massachusetts seizes, tars, and f ...

he had to withdraw from Grantham in favour of his nephew Brownlow. He was invited to stand at

Helston Helston ( kw, Hellys) is a town and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is situated at the northern end of the Lizard Peninsula approximately east of Penzance and south-west of Falmouth.Ordnance Survey: Landranger map shee ...

by the party opposed to the Godolphin interest, on condition that if defeated he would petition. He and Philip Yorke of Erthig, a son-in-law of John Cust, were seated for Helston in March 1775 on a petition which impugned the working of the new charter given to the borough by the Government on 3 September 1774. He was elected unopposed at Grantham at the 1780 general election. Also in 1780, he became recorder of Grantham. He was returned again for Grantham in 1784. He also became treasurer of Middle Temple in 1784. Owing to his deafness and irritability, his attendance and conduct in Parliament was for a long time in doubt. He mistakenly believed that Lord Auckland intended to resign the auditorship of Greenwich Hospital, a place worth £100 p.a. which had been customarily annexed to his office of counsel to the Admiralty before Lord North's time. He applied to Pitt unsuccessfully to become auditor on 2 January 1790. He continued to sit for Grantham on his family's interest and was returned in

1790 Events January–March * January 8 – United States President George Washington gives the first State of the Union address, in New York City. * January 11 – The 11 minor states of the Austrian Netherlands, which took p ...

, but made no mark in his last Parliament. Cockayne Cust died 30 November 1791.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cockayne Cust, Francis 1722 births 1791 deaths People educated at Eton College Alumni of King's College, Cambridge British MPs 1768–1774 British MPs 1774–1780 British MPs 1780–1784 British MPs 1784–1790 British MPs 1790–1796 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies Francis Cockayne