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Emma Cust, Countess Brownlow, (28 July 1791 – 28 January 1872), formerly Lady Emma Sophia Edgcumbe, was the third wife of John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow. The couple had no children, although the earl had children from his two previous marriages.

Biography

Emma was born in Portugal Street (now Piccadilly), Hyde Park, London, the daughter of Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe, and his wife, the former Lady Sophia Hobart.

She married the earl on 17 July 1828 at St George's, Hanover Square, London. In 1830 she was appointed a Lady of the Bedchamber to Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen, queen consort of King William IV of the United Kingdom, a position she retained until Adelaide's death in 1849. Her portrait was painted by James Rannie Swinton during the 1840s. Following her husband's death in 1853, she was known as the Dowager Countess Brownlow. The earl's son having predeceased him, the title passed to his grandson, John William Spencer Brownlow Egerton-Cust, who died in 1867, and thereafter to John's younger brother, Adelbert Brownlow-Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow.

She died at her home, Belton Lodge, in Torquay, aged 80.

Works

• Slight Reminiscences of a Septuagenarian from 1802 to 1815 (John Murray, 1868).

Arms

Coat of arms of Emma Cust, Countess Brownlow

Coronet of an Earl Escutcheon John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow (Ermine on a chevron Sable three fountains) impaling Richard Edgcumbe, 2nd Earl of Mount Edgcumbe (Gules on a bend Ermines cottised Or three boars’ heads Argent). Supporters Two lions regardant Argent collared paly wavy of six Argent and Azure.

References

1. G.E. Cokayne; with Vicary Gibbs, H.A. Doubleday, Geoffrey H. White, Duncan Warrand and Lord Howard de Walden, editors, The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed., 13 volumes in 14 (1910-1959; reprint in 6 volumes, Gloucester, U.K.: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000), volume II, page 348.
2. "James Rannie Swinton (1816-1888), Portrait painter". National Portrait Gallery. Retrieved 20 January 2018.
3. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003.
4. "Deaths". The Times. The Times Digital Archive. 30 January 1872. p. 1.
5. "Slight Reminiscences of a Septuagenarian". archive.org (Cornell University Library). Retrieved 20 January 2018.
6. Debrett's Peerage. 1839.

• 1791 births
• 1872 deaths
• British countesses
• Daughters of British earls
• Ladies of the Bedchamber
• Cust family
• People from Westminster