Cust, Robert Needham (1821-1909)

British orientalist, linguist, and missionary strategist

Born in the Manor House at Cockayne, Bedfordshire, where his father was the rector, Cust was educated at Eton and Haileybury (then the College of the East India Company) and had a distinguished career in the Indian Civil Service. He was able to speak eight European and eight Asian languages, was an able administrator, and had a great love for people. A certain brittleness in his character meant that he never quite reached the top, and he retired with a deep sense of failure in 1867 after the death of his second wife in childbirth. Always a fiercely independent thinker with more than a touch of intolerance, he became a passionate orientalist with a particular interest in missionary strategy. 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. His uncompromising views were always likely to alienate. He was never entirely at home in an evangelical culture, being, for example, much more accepting of Roman Catholicism (and even other religions) than evangelical orthodoxy thought appropriate. Above all, he and J. B. Whiting led the fight against what he castigated as “the unsympathetic and cruel line of policy adopted by the majority of the Committee towards our Negro fellow Christians.” He was referring to the society’s abandonment of Henry Venn‘s policy, which had placed the development of indigenous leadership at the top of the agenda. In reaction, key CMS figures openly criticized him. Eugene Stock, for example, described Cust as “inconsistent, cantankerous and far too liberal.” Cust was a prolific writer, publishing more than sixty volumes between 1870 and 1909. Those on missionary subjects mixed learning, passion, perceptiveness, idiosyncrasy, and abuse in such a manner that those who were most in need of his considerable insights were least likely to hear or heed them.

Peter Williams, “Cust, Robert Needham,” in Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, ed. Gerald H. Anderson (New York: Macmillan Reference USA, 1998), 162-3.

This article is reprinted from Biographical Dictionary of Christian Missions, Macmillan Reference USA, copyright © 1998 Gerald H. Anderson, by permission of Macmillan Reference USA, New York, NY. All rights reserved.

Bibliography

Digital Texts

Cust, Robert Needham. Essay on the National Custom of British India: Known as Caste, Varna, or Jati. London: Wells Gardner, Darton & Co., 1881.

_____. Pictures of Indian Life Sketched with the Pen from 1852-1881.With Maps. London: Trubner & Co., 1881.

_____. A Sketch of the Modern Languages of Africa Accompanied by a Language Map. London: Trubner & Co., 1883.

_____. The Opium Question; or, Is India to be Sacrificed to China? London: Trubner & Co., 1885.

_____. The Shrines of Lourdes, Zaragossa, the Holy Stairs at Rome, the Holy House of Loretto and Nazareth, and St. Ann at Jerusalem. London: Trubner & Co., 1885.

_____. The Liquor Traffic in British India: Or, Has the British Government Done Its Duty? An Answer to Venerable Archdeacon Farrar and Mr. Samuel Smith. London: Trubner & Co., 1888.

_____. Notes on Missionary Subjects. 4 Parts. London: Elliot Stock, 1889.

_____. Essays on the Languages of the Bible and Bible-Translations. London: Elliot Stock, 1890.

_____. Three Lists of Bible Translations Actually Accomplished, Corrected Up To August 1, 1890. Alphabetical, Geographical, Linguistic. London: Elliot Stock, 1890.

_____. Africa Rediviva: Or, The Occupation of African by Christian Missionaries of Europe and North America. London: Elliot Stock, 1891.

_____. Clouds on the Horizon: An Essay on the Various Forms of Belief, Which Stand in the Way of Acceptance of Real Christian Faith by Educated Natives of Asia, Africa, America, and Oceania. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1891.

_____. Normal Addresses on Bible-Diffusion for the Use of the Younger Clergy, and Lay-Speakers in General Meetings, Training Colleges, and Schools. London: Elliot Stock, 1892.

_____. Essay on the Prevailing Methods of the Evangelization of the Non-Christian World. London Luzac & Co., 1894.

_____. Essay on the Common Features, Which Appear in All Forms of Religious Belief. London: Luzac & Co., 1895.

_____. The Gospel-Message; or, Essays, Addresses, Suggestions, and Warnings on the Different Aspects of Christian Missions to Non-Christian Races and Peoples. London: Luzac & Co., 1896.

_____. Poems of Many Years and Many Places, 1839-1887. By a Lifelong Wanderer and Thinker. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1897.

_____. Essays on Religious Conceptions. London: Luzac, 1898.

_____. Memoirs of Past Years of a Septuagenarian: Twenty-One Years Before India; Twenty-One Years in India; Thirty-Two Years After India. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1899.

_____. Ecumenical List of Translations of the Holy Scriptures: Classified Scientifically According to Geographical and Linguistic, Considerations Up to the Year 1900. London: British and Foreign Bible Society, 1900.

_____. The Last Scratch of an Octogenarian Pen. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1903.

_____. Linguistic and Oriental Essays. Written from the Year 1840 to 1903. London: Trubner & Co., 1880-1904.

Primary

Cust, Robert. A Sketch of the Modern Languages of the East Indies. Accompanied by Two Language-Maps. London: Trubner & Co., 1878.

_____. Remarks on the Relation of Government to Education in India: In Reply to a Circular of the Church Missionary Society, January 27th, 1879. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1879.

_____. Difficulties of Missions. Missionary Warnings for the Twentieth Century; no. 3. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1885.

_____. Observations and Reflections on Matters Connected with Missionary Societies and Missionaries of All Denominations and All Countries. London; Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1885.

_____. The Opium Question; or, Is India to be Sacrificed to China? London: Trubner & Co., 1885.

_____. A Cry for Missions and a Missionary Spirit. London: Stephen Austin & Sons, 1886.

_____. Addresses on Missionary Topics: Missionary Heroes in Africa, Native Teachers in Polynesia, the Duty of the Youth in England. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1887.

_____. Duty of the Youth of England with Regard to the Christian Mission to the Heathen: A Lecture Delivered in the Hall of Balliol College, Oxford on November 27, 1886. London: Society for the Propagation of the Gospel in Foreign Parts, 1887.

_____. Essay on the Great Problems Outside the Orbit of Pure Evangelistic Work, But Which the Missionary Has to Face. London: Stock, 1888.

_____. Missionary Address Delivered in Henry Martyn Hall, to Undergraduates of the University of Cambridge: The Hero-Missionary and Heroic Missionary Society. Allen Gardiner, Coleridge Patteson, John Williams, and the Moravian Missionary Society. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1888.

_____. Missionary Addresses, Pictures and Notices. London: Elliot Stock, 1888.

_____.The Adolescence of a Native Church in Non-Christian Lands. Missionary Warnings for the Twentieth Century; no. 1. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1892.

_____. Normal Addresses on Bible-Diffusion for the Use of the Younger Clergy, and Lay-Speakers in General Meetings, Training Colleges, and Schools. London: Elliot Stock, 1892.

_____. The Shrines, or, Chief Places of Pilgrimage of the Adherents of the Church of Rome. London: Elliot Stock, 1892.

_____. Essay on the Ancient Religions of the World Before the Great Anno Domini: Contributed to the Tenth International Oriental Congress, Held at Geneva, September, 1894. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1894.

_____. Essay on the Prevailing Methods of the Evangelization of the Non-Christian World. London Luzac & Co., 1894.

_____. The Gospel-Message; or, Essays, Addresses, Suggestions, and Warnings on the Different Aspects of Christian Missions to Non-Christian Races and Peoples. London: Luzac & Co., 1896.

_____. On the Origin of the Phenician [sic] and Indian Alphabets. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1896.

_____. Judaism and Sacerdotalism: The New Judaism. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1897.

_____. Suggestions for the Church Missionary Society Centenary. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1897.

_____. The Duty of Great Britain in the Matter of Slavery in British Protectorates in Africa: To the Editor of the “Times”. London: n.p., [1899?].

_____. Memoirs of Past Years of a Septuagenarian: Twenty-One Years Before India; Twenty-One Years in India; Thirty-Two Years After India. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1899.

_____. Essay on the Most Wonderful Phenomenon of the Closing Century. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1900.

_____. Essay on the Necessity of Setting Apart Annually, and Giving Special Training to a Certain Number of Highly Gifted Missionary Students…with Western Nations. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1900.

_____. Requirements of the Bible Society at the Close of its First Century. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1900.

_____. List of Literary Languages: Spoken and Written in the Dominions of Her Majesty Queen Victoria at the Close of the Nineteenth Century. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1901.

_____. Some Remarks on the Royal Asiatic Society of Great Britain and Ireland. Hertford: Robert Needham Cust, 1901.

_____. Linguistic and Oriental Essays. Written from the Year 1840 to 1903. London: Trubner & Co., 1880-1904.

Secondary

Penner, Peter. Robert Needham Cust, 1821-1909: A Personal Biography. Lewiston, NY; Queenston, ON: E. Mellon Press, 1987.

Stock, Eugene. “Dr. Cust on Missions and Missionaries.” In CM Intelligencer (February 1895): 103-10.

Portrait

Robert Needham Cust, Linguistic and Oriental Essays. Written from the Year 1847-1890. London: n.p., 1891. Accessed June 6, 2011, at: