Harry Cust (1861-1917)

HENRY John Cockayne-Cust was something of an Edwardian legend although the evidence for his existence is far from mythical.

Harry had sapphire blue eyes, the soul of a poet and the looks of a Greek god. Women found him totally irresistible with the result that he was responsible for an incredible number of little blue-eyed Custs in quality nurseries all over England.

His marriage to Emmeline Mary Elizabeth Welby-Gregory (1867–1955) known as Nina, a beautiful and talented woman, does not appear to have restricted Harry in any way, but it is ironic that Nina, who adored him and so carefully sculpted his bust (which can be seen at Belton House) and his tomb in Belton Church, never bore him a child.

Harry was one of The Souls, and attached to Pamela Wyndham. Others in the clique were Margot Asquith, Arthur Balfour, George Curzon, Alfred Lyttelton, Godfrey Webb, and George Wyndham. Considered a brilliant conversationalist by his contemporaries, he had a reputation as a womaniser and was the father of socialite and philanthropist Lady Diana Cooper, by the Duchess of Rutland, though this was not acknowledged until much later.

Harry was also rumoured to be the natural father of Beatrice Stephenson Roberts, the mother of British prime minister Margaret Thatcher, and though there was no solid proof of this connection, Lady Diana Cooper often jokingly referred to Mrs. Thatcher as her niece.

In 2009, it came to light that Cust was the great-grandfather of writer Allegra Huston, biological daughter of British peer John Julius Norwich and stepdaughter of American film-maker John Huston, via her grandmother, Lady Diana Cooper, Cust’s daughter via a covert liaison.

Educated at Eton (where he was captain of the Oppidans) and Trinity College, Cambridge.[2] While at Trinity College, he was elected to the Apostles and graduated with second-class honours in the
Classical Tripos.

Initially pursuing a legal career, he was admitted to the Inner Temple in 1888 but was not called to the bar.

He won a by-election in 1890 for Stamford, left Parliament during the general election, but returned five years later when he won Bermondsey.

Harry found time between love affairs to be a founder member of the Hell Fire Club in London and in 1892 William Waldorf Astor, invited him to edit Pall Mall Gazette despite lacking any background in journalism.

Harry died age only fifty-eight, thus missing by four years the opportunity of inheriting Belton.

He is buried with his wife Nina at Belton with a monument she designed.

The estate passed to his younger brother Adelbert Salisbury Cockayne Cust, a descendant of Brownlow Cust. The Earldom became extinct and Adelbert became the 5th Baron in 1921.