Page:Dictionary of National Biography, Second Supplement, volume 1.djvu/479

 subdivided, he chose the moiety forming the division of Amritsar. For a time he acted as financial commissioner of the province, and in 1861 as judicial commissioner. The death of his first wife on 17 Jan. 1864 brought him back to England, but he returned to India in October to join the legislative council, and to act temporarily as home secretary to the supreme government (1864-5). From another visit to England he was recalled to fill the important post of member of the board of revenue in the North-west Provinces, but the death at Allahabad after childbirth in August 1867 of his second wife determined Cust to retire altogether from the Indian service just nine months before completing his service for a full pension.

In England Cust gradually recovered his energies. He studied Hebrew and completed the draft of a code of revenue law for Northern India. For a time he helped in the preparation of the Oxford 'Dictionary of the English Language' edited by Sir James Murray. Although he had rowed at Eton, he cared nothing for sports or games, and henceforth found recreation in foreign travel, while devoting himself at home to Oriental and religious studies, which he pursued with characteristic industry and method. Without being a profound scholar he had some acquaintance with Hebrew, Arabic, Persian, Sanskrit, Hindi, Urdu or Hindustani, Panjabi, Bengali, as well as with the chief European languages. Between 1870 and 1909 he published more than sixty volumes chiefly on Oriental philology or phases of religious belief. His 'Modern Languages of the East Indies' (1878) was followed by a scholarly description of the 'Modern Languages of Africa' (1883), which was translated into Italian (1885), 'Oceania' (1887), 'The Caucasian Group' (1887), 'The Turki Branch of the Ural-Altaic Family' (1889). 'Linguistic and Oriental Essays,' in seven series, were issued between 1880 and 1904. Less laborious works included, apart from translations into French Italian and Greek, 'Poems of Many Years and Places' (2ser. 1887, 1897), 'Clouds on the Horizon or Forms of Religious Error' (1890); 'Common Features which appear in all Religions of the World' (1895); 'Five Essays on Religious Conceptions' (1897), and 'Life Memoir' (1899). Cust was prominent in the proceedings of many literary societies. With the Royal Asiatic Society, which he formed in 1851, his association was especially long and active; he was appointed member of council and honorary librarian in 1872, and from 1878 to 1899 was honorary secretary; he was also a vice-president, and read many papers at its meetings. Making annual tours abroad through Europe, West Africa, and Western Asia, and coming to know numerous foreign scholars, Cust represented the Asiatic Society at the Oriental Congresses of London, St. Petersburg, Florence, Berlin, Leyden, Vienna, and Stockholm. He was interested in missionary enterprise and philanthropic work, and served on the committees of the Church Missionary Society and the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel. He was made honorary LL.D. of Edinburgh in 1885.

Cust, who had attended the coronation of William IV in 1831, and that of Queen Victoria in 1838, was also present at that of Edward VII in 1902. In 1904 his sight failed, but he pursued his studies with assistance until 1908, when his strength gave way. He died on 28 Oct. 1909 at his residence, Campden Hill Road, Kensington, and was buried at Putney Vale.

Cust was thrice married: (1) on 10 May 1856 to Maria Adelaide, second daughter of Henry Lewis Hobart, dean of Windsor; she died on 17 Jan. 1864, leaving two sons and three daughters; (2) on 28 Dec. 1865 to Emma, eldest daughter of E. Carlyon, rector of Debden, Hampshire; she died on 10 Aug. 1867; (3) on 11 Nov. 1868 to Elizabeth Dewar, only daughter of J. Mathews; by her he had a daughter, Anna Maria Elizabeth. His son, Robert Henry Hobart Cust, is a well-known writer on art, and his daughters showed literary aptitude.

A portrait was painted by Miss Carpenter in 1840, of which three copies were made : one is at the Provost's Lodge, Eton; a second belongs to Sir Reginald Cust, and a third to Gust's son, Mr. Robert Cust. He also appears as a child in a large group by Samuel William Reynolds, now in the possession of Mr. Henry Cust. A native painting, executed in Calcutta (c. 1843), also belongs to Mr. Robert Cust.

 CUSTANCE, HENRY (1842–1908), jockey, born at Peterborough on 27 Feb. 1842, was son of Samuel Custance, a post-boy, by his wife Elizabeth Carpenter. Devoted to horses and to riding from childhood, he rode at thirteen in a pony race at Ramsey, in Huntingdonshire, and afterwards won a contest for a saddle when he weighed four stone. Vainly seeking employment at Newmarket, he spent three years at Epsom, where he had 'a jolly, though