Shelfmark
MS 383
Author
Title
English poems and prose : the final shaking of the old tree and gleaning of the grapes when the vintage is past.
Publication, distribution, etc.
England, 1836-1896.
Physical description
1 v. (155 items) ; 24 cm.
Note
Title taken from preliminary leaf.
Note
A bound volume of collected manuscript, typescript and printed writings, chiefly verse, with cover title 'English prose and poetry of youth, manhood and old age / Robert Needham Cust, 1837-'.
Note
Compiled by the author in 1895-1896 according to dated preliminary leaves.
Note
Organised by the author in five sections: I. English poems, part 1: Youth, 1836-1845. II. English poems, part 2: Manhood, 1846 to 1881. III: English poems, part 3: The aftermath of old age, 1882- . IV: English poems, part 4: Epigrams, acrostics and short translations in English, Latin and Greek languages. V: English prose, 1840-1842.
Note
Biographical note: Robert Needham Cust (1821-1909) OE, was an administrator and judge in British India as well as an Anglican evangelist and linguist. Cust was educated at Eton College, Trinity College, Cambridge, Haileybury (1840-42) and the College of Fort William, Calcutta. He worked in the Bengal Civil Service across Punjab, and in the Indian Civil Service until his retirement in 1867, having served as member of the Viceroy's Legislative Council and Home Secretary to the Government of India.
Note
Biographical note: After retiring to England, Cust devoted himself to scientific research, philanthropy, and magisterial and municipal duties. He was a member and officer in many scientific, philanthropic, and religious societies on the Council or Committee of some thirty Societies or Boards, including the Royal Asiatic Society, the Royal Geographical Society, the Philological Society, the Society for the Propagation of the Gospel, the Society for the Propagation of Christian Knowledge, the Church Missionary Society and the Charity Organisation Society. A prolific writer, he published more than sixty volumes on a range of subjects between 1870 and 1909.
Note
Biographical note: Cust spoke eight European and eight Asian languages. He was a fiercely independent thinker and one of the few Victorian intellectuals to oppose the racist theories popular at the time. He was part of the Orientalism movement and active within the British and Foreign Bible Society. He had a tempestuous relationship with the Church Missionary Society (CMS), where for a period he was a leading figure on some of its key committees. He was also a Justice of the Peace for Middlesex and Surrey, a Visiting Justice for Wormwood Scrubs Prison, and a member of the Chelsea Board of Guardians. Cust was married three times, firstly to Maria Adelaide Hobart, with whom he had two sons and three daughters; secondly, to Emma Carlyon and thirdly to Elizabeth Mathews, with whom he had one daughter.
Note
Chiefly comprises autograph fair copies with some cuttings of printed works, all dated by Cust with dates of composition; divided in five sections as above with section title and contents leaves.
Note
Includes copy of published collection: Sorrows of Anglo-Indian life / by a sufferer. - London : Elliot Stock, 1889. In publisher's blue cloth boards, 15 cm.
Preferred citation of described materials note
Eton College, MS 383.
Provenance
Provenance: Armorial bookplate of Robert Needham Cust and inscription dated July 1895.
Provenance
Provenance: Possibly donated by Cust's son Robert Henry Hobart Cust (1861-1940), OE, with other papers at MS 313 and MS 337, in the 1920s or 1930s.
Binding
Late 19th century quarter black roan binding; black cloth board; red leather title label on upper board lettered in gilt; green silk ties.
Copy-specific note
Section 5 includes two loosely inserted bundles of newspaper cuttings from the mid-1880s where dated.
Subject
English poetry 19th century Manuscripts.
Genre/Form
Poems.
Added entry--name
Cust, Robert H. Hobart (Robert Henry Hobart), b. 1861 - ? associated name.
Added entry--name
Added Entry-Uncontrolled Related/Analytical Title
Sorrows of Anglo-Indian life, by a sufferer.
Added entry--place
England.
Language code
eng lat grc lat grc per urd ita fre
Identifier
B53458