Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey

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.

Thomas studied law, but his interests were political. In 1860 he and his new wife Annie Allnutt went to live at Beauport Park, Hastings. After attempts elsewhere Thomas was elected Liberal MP for Hastings in 1868.Two years later he and Annie moved into Normanhurst Court, a mansion at Catsfield, Sussex, built for them by Thomas Brassey I.

Thomas gradually moved up the political ladder, joining Gladstone's government in 1880 as Secretary to the Admiralty. He received a knighthood in 1881, became Baron Brassey of Bulkeley in 1886 and Earl Brassey in 1911. Among other appointments, he also was made Governor of Victoria, Australia and Lord Warden of the Cinque Ports.

Brassey was the son of the railway contractor Thomas Brassey, 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.

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 Agnes, 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.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thomas_Brassey,_1st_Earl_Brassey

Thomas Brassey represented Hastings

The public institute building constructed in 1878-80t by W. L. Vernon for Thomas Brassey during his period as a MP for Hastings today houses the Hastings Area Library. It was built in a highly decorated Gothic revival style. The building had a reference library on ground floor, assembly room on first floor, school of art and science on the upper floors, accommodation for the Hastings Rowing Club in the basement and a suite of rooms for the proprietor.

Many of the items displayed in the Durbar Hall at the Hastings Museum and Art Centre were collected by Annie and Thomas Brassey on their voyages around the world. Surviving registers show the Brasseys' collection to have consisted in total of over 6,000 items of European and Oriental Art, ethnography, archaeology, and natural history. The ethnographic material was given to Hastings Museum, together with the Durbar Hall, in 1919. Of the other material, the natural history and some of the geological collections were given to Bexhill Museum.

From 1889 to the death of the first Lord Brassey in 1918, the Lady Brassey Museum in the Durbar Hall at 24 Park Lane was open to visiting groups by arrangement, and on Sunday afternoons. Other collections were on show at Normanhurst Court, the Brasseys' country residence near Catsfield. An admission charge was made, with the money going to local charities.

Other References

• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol I. page 185