Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey
Encyclopedia
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey GCB
, JP
, DL
, TD
(11 February 1836 – 23 February 1918), was a British Liberal Party
politician
, Governor of Victoria and founder of The Naval Annual
.
, by Maria Harrison, daughter of Joseph Harrison, a forwarding and shipping agent. He was the brother of Henry Brassey
and Albert Brassey
. He was educated at Rugby
and University College, Oxford
, and was called to the Bar
, Lincoln's Inn
, in 1864.
(MP) for Devonport in 1865, winning the seat at a by-election in June and then losing it again the general election in July
. He returned to Parliament three years later as the representative for Hastings
at the 1868 general election
, holding that seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1886 general election
. He was President of the first day of the 1874 Co-operative Congress
.
He served under William Ewart Gladstone
as Civil Lord of the Admiralty from 1880 to 1884 and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty from 1884 to 1884. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
(KCB) in 1881 and raised to the peerage as Baron Brassey, of Bulkeley in the County of Chester, in 1886. He again held office under Gladstone and then Lord Rosebery
as a Lord-in-Waiting
from 1893 to 1895. In 1893 Queen Victoria appointed nine members as the Royal Opium Commission
, which consisted of seven British and two Indian members, which was headed by Lord Brassey, who served as the Chairman. The Commission was to report on whether India Opium export trade to far east (China) should be ended and, further, whether poppy growing and consumption of Opium in India itself should be prohibited save for medical purpose.
, and lived in its capital, Melbourne, in Government House
. Brassey is remembered in Australia
's national capital, Canberra
, with Brassey House, now a hotel (originally a guest house
) in the inner suburb of Barton, Australian Capital Territory
completed in 1927 to coincide with the relocation of the Federal Parliament
from Melbourne, Victoria, to Canberra. Brassey House originally offered 45 rooms with shared bathing facilities, for the exclusive use of members of parliament and mid-level government officials relocating to Canberra. During the mid 1960's the government of the day expanded the capacity to 131 rooms and added conference and meeting rooms. It was sold in the mid-1980s to local businessmen and has been operated since as a residential hotel, now with 75 rooms including ensuites. It is said to have been built back-to-front, with the more ornate façade facing Belmore Gardens and its plainer face to Macquarie Street.35.3115°S 149.1350°E
in order to return to school in England. His wife Annie, Lady Brassey (1839–1887), published an account of the cruise entitled In The Trades, The Tropics, & The Roaring Forties, or alternatively A Voyage In The Sunbeam: Our Home On The Ocean For Eleven Months. In 1880 Brassey's book The British Navy was published. In 1886, he started The Naval Annual, generally referred to as Brassey's Naval Annual
. He edited The Naval Annual until 1891. He was succeeded as editor by his son Thomas
.
Brassey was also President of the Royal Statistical Society
from 1879 to 1880 and served as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
from 1908 to 1913. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
in 1906 and made Viscount Hythe, of Hythe in the County of Kent, and Earl Brassey in 1911.
Lord Brassey married firstly Anna Allnutt, daughter of John Allnutt, of Clapham
, Surrey
. They had one son and four daughters. The third daughter, Lady Muriel Agmes, married Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr, and was the mother of Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr
, while the fourth daughter, Lady Marie Adelaide, married Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
. Lady Brassey died in September 1887, aged 47. Lord Brassey married secondly Lady Sybil de Vere Capell, daughter of Arthur Capell, Viscount Malden, and sister of George Capell, 7th Earl of Essex, in 1890. They had one daughter. Lord Brassey died in February 1918, aged 82, and was succeeded in the earldom by his only son, Thomas
.
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
, JP
Justice of the Peace
A justice of the peace is a puisne judicial officer elected or appointed by means of a commission to keep the peace. Depending on the jurisdiction, they might dispense summary justice or merely deal with local administrative applications in common law jurisdictions...
, DL
Deputy Lieutenant
In the United Kingdom, a Deputy Lieutenant is one of several deputies to the Lord Lieutenant of a lieutenancy area; an English ceremonial county, Welsh preserved county, Scottish lieutenancy area, or Northern Irish county borough or county....
, TD
Territorial Decoration
The Territorial Decoration was a medal of the United Kingdom awarded for long service in the Territorial Force and its successor, the Territorial Army...
(11 February 1836 – 23 February 1918), was a British Liberal Party
Liberal Party (UK)
The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
politician
Politician
A politician, political leader, or political figure is an individual who is involved in influencing public policy and decision making...
, Governor of Victoria and founder of The Naval Annual
Brassey's Naval Annual
The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources...
.
Background and education
Brassey was the son of the railway contractor Thomas BrasseyThomas Brassey
Thomas Brassey was an English civil engineering contractor and manufacturer of building materials who was responsible for building much of the world's railways in the 19th century. By 1847, he had built about one-third of the railways in Britain, and by time of his death in 1870 he had built one...
, by Maria Harrison, daughter of Joseph Harrison, a forwarding and shipping agent. He was the brother of Henry Brassey
Henry Brassey
Henry Arthur Brassey DL was a British Member of Parliament.Brassey was the son of the railway contractor Thomas Brassey and his wife Maria . Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey, was his elder brother and Albert Brassey his younger brother...
and Albert Brassey
Albert Brassey
Colonel Albert Brassey was a British rower, soldier and Conservative politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1895 to 1906.-Life:...
. He was educated at Rugby
Rugby School
Rugby School is a co-educational day and boarding school located in the town of Rugby, Warwickshire, England. It is one of the oldest independent schools in Britain.-History:...
and University College, Oxford
University College, Oxford
.University College , is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. As of 2009 the college had an estimated financial endowment of £110m...
, and was called to the Bar
Call to the bar
The Call to the Bar is a legal term of art in most common law jurisdictions where persons must be qualified to be allowed to argue in court on behalf of another party, and are then said to have been "called to the bar" or to have received a "call to the bar"...
, Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
, in 1864.
Political career
Brassey was briefly Member of ParliamentMember of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
(MP) for Devonport in 1865, winning the seat at a by-election in June and then losing it again the general election in July
United Kingdom general election, 1865
The 1865 United Kingdom general election saw the Liberals, led by Lord Palmerston, increase their large majority over the Earl of Derby's Conservatives to more than 80. The Whig Party changed its name to the Liberal Party between the previous election and this one.Palmerston died later in the same...
. He returned to Parliament three years later as the representative for Hastings
Hastings (UK Parliament constituency)
Hastings was a parliamentary constituency in Sussex. It returned two Members of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom until the 1885 general election, when its representation was reduced to one member....
at the 1868 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1868
The 1868 United Kingdom general election was the first after passage of the Reform Act 1867, which enfranchised many male householders, thus greatly increasing the number of men who could vote in elections in the United Kingdom...
, holding that seat until he retired from the House of Commons at the 1886 general election
United Kingdom general election, 1886
-Seats summary:-See also:*MPs elected in the UK general election, 1886*The Parliamentary Franchise in the United Kingdom 1885-1918-References:*F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987**...
. He was President of the first day of the 1874 Co-operative Congress
Co-operative Congress
The Co-operative Congress is the national conference of the UK Co-operative Movement. The first of the modern congresses took place in 1869 following a series of meetings called the "Owenite Congress" in the 1830s...
.
He served under William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
as Civil Lord of the Admiralty from 1880 to 1884 and as Parliamentary Secretary to the Admiralty from 1884 to 1884. He was made a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(KCB) in 1881 and raised to the peerage as Baron Brassey, of Bulkeley in the County of Chester, in 1886. He again held office under Gladstone and then Lord Rosebery
Archibald Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery
Archibald Philip Primrose, 5th Earl of Rosebery, KG, PC was a British Liberal statesman and Prime Minister. Between the death of his father, in 1851, and the death of his grandfather, the 4th Earl, in 1868, he was known by the courtesy title of Lord Dalmeny.Rosebery was a Liberal Imperialist who...
as a Lord-in-Waiting
Lord-in-Waiting
Most Lords in Waiting are Government whips in the House of Lords who are members of the Royal Household of the Sovereign of the United Kingdom. As members of the Royal Household their duties are nominal, though they are occasionally required to meet visiting political and state leaders on visits...
from 1893 to 1895. In 1893 Queen Victoria appointed nine members as the Royal Opium Commission
Royal Commission on Opium
The Royal Opium Commission of 1895 was a commission of the British Government set up to investigate the Anglo-Asian opium trade.-History:Throughout the 19th century opium sent to China was one of British India's most valuable exports...
, which consisted of seven British and two Indian members, which was headed by Lord Brassey, who served as the Chairman. The Commission was to report on whether India Opium export trade to far east (China) should be ended and, further, whether poppy growing and consumption of Opium in India itself should be prohibited save for medical purpose.
Governor of Victoria
From 1895 to 1900 he was Governor of Victoria, a colony in AustraliaAustralia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
, and lived in its capital, Melbourne, in Government House
Government House, Melbourne
Government House, Melbourne is the office and official residence of the Governor of Victoria. It is set next to the Royal Botanic Gardens and surrounded by Kings Domain in Melbourne. It was the official residence of the Governor-General of Australia from 1901 to 1930...
. Brassey is remembered in Australia
Australia
Australia , officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country in the Southern Hemisphere comprising the mainland of the Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous smaller islands in the Indian and Pacific Oceans. It is the world's sixth-largest country by total area...
's national capital, Canberra
Canberra
Canberra is the capital city of Australia. With a population of over 345,000, it is Australia's largest inland city and the eighth-largest city overall. The city is located at the northern end of the Australian Capital Territory , south-west of Sydney, and north-east of Melbourne...
, with Brassey House, now a hotel (originally a guest house
Guest house
A guest house is a kind of lodging. In some parts of the world a guest house is similar to a hostel, bed and breakfast, or inn whereas in other parts of the world , guest houses are a type of inexpensive hotel-like lodging...
) in the inner suburb of Barton, Australian Capital Territory
Barton, Australian Capital Territory
Barton is a suburb of Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia. Barton is named after Sir Edmund Barton, Australia's first Prime Minister. Streets in Barton are named after Governors....
completed in 1927 to coincide with the relocation of the Federal Parliament
Parliament of Australia
The Parliament of Australia, also known as the Commonwealth Parliament or Federal Parliament, is the legislative branch of the government of Australia. It is bicameral, largely modelled in the Westminster tradition, but with some influences from the United States Congress...
from Melbourne, Victoria, to Canberra. Brassey House originally offered 45 rooms with shared bathing facilities, for the exclusive use of members of parliament and mid-level government officials relocating to Canberra. During the mid 1960's the government of the day expanded the capacity to 131 rooms and added conference and meeting rooms. It was sold in the mid-1980s to local businessmen and has been operated since as a residential hotel, now with 75 rooms including ensuites. It is said to have been built back-to-front, with the more ornate façade facing Belmore Gardens and its plainer face to Macquarie Street.35.3115°S 149.1350°E
Sailing activities
Between 6 July 1876 and 27 May 1877 Brassey circumnavigated the world in his steam-assisted three-masted topsail-yard schooner Sunbeam. This voyage is said to have been the first circumnavigation by a private yacht. His son Thomas left the Sunbeam at Rio de JaneiroRio de Janeiro
Rio de Janeiro , commonly referred to simply as Rio, is the capital city of the State of Rio de Janeiro, the second largest city of Brazil, and the third largest metropolitan area and agglomeration in South America, boasting approximately 6.3 million people within the city proper, making it the 6th...
in order to return to school in England. His wife Annie, Lady Brassey (1839–1887), published an account of the cruise entitled In The Trades, The Tropics, & The Roaring Forties, or alternatively A Voyage In The Sunbeam: Our Home On The Ocean For Eleven Months. In 1880 Brassey's book The British Navy was published. In 1886, he started The Naval Annual, generally referred to as Brassey's Naval Annual
Brassey's Naval Annual
The Naval Annual was a book that sought to bring together a large amount of information on naval subjects, which had hitherto been obtainable only by consulting numerous publications and chiefly from foreign sources...
. He edited The Naval Annual until 1891. He was succeeded as editor by his son Thomas
Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey
Thomas Allnutt Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey DL, JP, TD MInstNA AMICE , styled Viscount Hythe between 1911 and 1918, was a British peer, who was for many years editor or joint editor of Brassey's Naval Annual....
.
Brassey was also President of the Royal Statistical Society
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society is a learned society for statistics and a professional body for statisticians in the UK.-History:It was founded in 1834 as the Statistical Society of London , though a perhaps unrelated London Statistical Society was in existence at least as early as 1824...
from 1879 to 1880 and served as Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports
The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports is a ceremonial official in the United Kingdom. The post dates from at least the 12th century but may be older. The Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports was originally in charge of the Cinque Ports, a group of five port towns on the southeast coast of England...
from 1908 to 1913. He was appointed a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
in 1906 and made Viscount Hythe, of Hythe in the County of Kent, and Earl Brassey in 1911.
Family
Clapham
Clapham is a district in south London, England, within the London Borough of Lambeth.Clapham covers the postcodes of SW4 and parts of SW9, SW8 and SW12. Clapham Common is shared with the London Borough of Wandsworth, although Lambeth has responsibility for running the common as a whole. According...
, Surrey
Surrey
Surrey is a county in the South East of England and is one of the Home Counties. The county borders Greater London, Kent, East Sussex, West Sussex, Hampshire and Berkshire. The historic county town is Guildford. Surrey County Council sits at Kingston upon Thames, although this has been part of...
. They had one son and four daughters. The third daughter, Lady Muriel Agmes, married Gilbert Sackville, 8th Earl De La Warr, and was the mother of Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr
Herbrand Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr
Herbrand Edward Dundonald Brassey Sackville, 9th Earl De La Warr, GBE, PC, DL, JP , styled Lord Buckhurst until 1915 , was a British politician. He was the first hereditary peer to join the Labour Party and became a government minister at the age of 23...
, while the fourth daughter, Lady Marie Adelaide, married Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon
Major Freeman Freeman-Thomas, 1st Marquess of Willingdon was a British Liberal politician and administrator who served as Governor General of Canada, the 13th since Canadian Confederation, and as Viceroy and Governor-General of India, the country's 22nd.Freeman-Thomas was born in England and...
. Lady Brassey died in September 1887, aged 47. Lord Brassey married secondly Lady Sybil de Vere Capell, daughter of Arthur Capell, Viscount Malden, and sister of George Capell, 7th Earl of Essex, in 1890. They had one daughter. Lord Brassey died in February 1918, aged 82, and was succeeded in the earldom by his only son, Thomas
Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey
Thomas Allnutt Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey DL, JP, TD MInstNA AMICE , styled Viscount Hythe between 1911 and 1918, was a British peer, who was for many years editor or joint editor of Brassey's Naval Annual....
.