Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/478

 mander-in-chief with part of his squadron to the spot to aid in the relief work, and the crisis which accompanied the revolution in Turkey made the Mediterranean for the time the centre of interest. On 2 Jan 1909 he was advanced to the rank of admiral, and in July of that year received the G.C.V.O. Sir Assheton was relieved in April 1910, and immediately hoisted his flag at the main of the Victory as commander-in-chief at Portsmouth. He died suddenly at Admiralty House there on 1 March 1911. He was buried with naval honours at Highcliffe, near Christchurch. A memoria] tablet was placed in Portsmouth dockyard church. 'Holding strong opinions on some points, he constantly stood aloof from all controversies of public character. Few flag-officers who have held such important appointments have ever been so little in the public eye as he.'

Curzon-Howe married on 25 Feb. 1892 Alice Ann, eldest daughter of General Sir John Cowell, P.O., K.C.B., and had issue two sons (the elder is in the navy) and three daughters. His eldest daughter, Victoria Alexandrina, to whom Queen Victoria stood sponsor, died at Malta on 3 Feb. 1910.

 CUST, ROBERT NEEDHAM (1821–1909), orientalist, born at Cockayne Hatley, Bedfordshire, on 24 Feb. 1821, was second son of Henry Cockayne Cust (1780–1861), canon of Windsor, by his wife Lady Anna Maria Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Francis Needham, first earl of Kilmorey. His father was second son of Sir Brownlow Cust, first baron Brownlow (1744–1807). Educated at Eton, Robert was intended for the bar, but accepting a nomination for the Indian civil service, he passed to Haileybury College, where he greatly distinguished himself in Sanskrit, Persian, Arabic and Hindustani. At Calcutta in 1843 he completed his studies in the college of Fort William, receiving medals and a degree of honour besides qualifying in Bengali.

His first appointment in the public service was as assistant to the magistrate of Ainbala, then the headquarters of the political administration of Northern India. He next became personal assistant to Major George Broadfoot [q. v.], newly appointed agent to the governor-general for the then north-western frontier. While he was marching with his chief through the domains of the Cis Satlaj protected chiefs, news of the Sikh invasion took them to the front and he engaged in the great battles on the Satlaj in 1845 at Mudki, Ferozeshah, and Sobraon. At Ferozeshah (21-2 Dec. 1845) Major Broadfoot was killed in action, and Cust, albeit a junior officer, carried on for a time the duties of governor-general's agent. His services were mentioned in the governor-general's despatch, and he was appointed by Lord Hardinge to the charge of a district in the newly formed province of the Punjab, that of Hoshiarpur. He had little experience to guide him; but under the inspiration of his new chief, John (afterwards Lord) Lawrence [q. v.], he organised the district on a 'non-regulation' system of firmness and kindness; living alone amongst the people, without soldiers or policemen the court held under the green mango trees in the presence of hundreds. Here Cust developed an intense love for India and its people. 'The experience of half a century,' he remarked later, 'has given the stamp of approval to our strong but benevolent, rigorous but sympathetic system.'

From Hoshiarpur he was moved to his old district of Ambala, and took its administration vigorously in hand. Cust, if lacking in magnetic power, showed himself a masterly organiser and administrator, and an indefatigable and methodical worker. After the second Sikh war, which ended decisively in March 1849 with the annexation of the Punjab, the government commissioned Cust to report on the country and its capabilities. He visited every district in the newly acquired territory, and after nearly two years' immense labour he presented his report in 1851. Cust then proceeded to England on a brief furlough. Returning to India, he was appointed magistrate of Benares, and afterwards to the more important charge of Banda in Bundelkand, and in three years he put the district, which was in a most unsatisfactory condition, into perfect order. In recognition of his services he was offered the more important post of magistrate and collector of Delhi, but fortunately for himself declined it. The officer who accepted the post was a victim of the Delhi massacre. Cust was in England at the outbreak of the mutiny of 1857, being called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn on 13 Aug. 1857. Returning to India in February 1858, he was immediately appointed at the special request of Sir John Lawrence to be commissioner of the Lahore division of the Punjab, and when that division was found too large and was 