John Egerton, Viscount Alford

Who was John Egerton, Viscount Alford?

John Hume Egerton, Viscount Alford was a British Tory Member of Parliament.

Born John Hume Cust, he was the eldest son of John Cust, 1st Earl Brownlow by his first wife Sophia Hume, daughter of Sir Abraham Hume, 2nd Baronet and Lady Amelia Egerton, great-granddaughter of John Egerton, 3rd Earl of Bridgewater. He gained the courtesy title of Viscount Alford on his father being created an Earl in 1815. Alford was educated at Eton and Magdalene College, Cambridge. In 1835 he was elected to the House of Commons for Bedfordshire, a seat he held until 1851.

In 1849 Alford assumed by Royal license the surname of Egerton in lieu of his patronymic, on succeeding to the huge Bridgwater estates through his mother. He joined the Canterbury Association on 17 June 1848 and remained a member until his death.

Lord Alford married Lady Marianne Margaret Compton, daughter of Spencer Compton, 2nd Marquess of Northampton, in 1841. He died in January 1851, aged only 38. His eldest son John William Spencer Brownlow Egerton-Cust succeeded his grandfather in the earldom of Brownlow in 1853. His second son Adelbert Wellington Brownlow Cust, 3rd Earl Brownlow later became a government minister.