Thomas Brassey , 1st Earl Brassey Thomas Brassey , 1st Earl Brassey GCB , TD , JP , DL , ( 11 February 1836 – 23 February 1918 ) , was a British Liberal Party politician , Governor of Victoria and founder of The Naval Annual . Background and education . 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 . Political career . Brassey was briefly Member of Parliament ( 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 . Governor of Victoria . From 1895 to 1900 he was Governor of Victoria , a colony in Australia , 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 1960s 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 . Sailing activities . Brassey ' s first experience of sailing was whilst he was still at Rugby school . After a short spell in a hired yacht called " Zillah " he started to compete successfully in club events in a yacht called " Cymba " ( 1855 ) . In 1859 he became the owner of an iron yacht of 120 tons called " Albatross " , designed by his friend St Clare John Byrne and built at his father ' s Canada Works . He was elected as a member of the Royal Yacht Squadron at this time . In 1866 he ventured into auxiliary steam with the yacht " Meteor " and in 1872 used the steam yacht " Eothen " to visit Canada - although the vessel proved not to be best suited for this type of work . " Eothen " had formally been owned by the co - founder of P & O Company - Arthur Anderson . Between 6 July 1876 and 27 May 1877 Brassey circumnavigated the world in his steam - assisted three - masted topsail - yard schooner " Sunbeam " , another yacht designed for him by St Clare Byrne . This voyage is said to have been the first circumnavigation by a private yacht . His son Thomas left the " Sunbeam " at Rio de Janeiro 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 . At the age of 79 Brassey sailed his yacht " Sunbeam " to Mudros Bay in order to support the troops as a hospital ship during the ill fated Gallipoli Campaign . Honours and Awards . Brassey was President of the Royal Statistical Society from 1879 to 1880 . He was conferred with Honorary Membership of the Institution of Engineers and Shipbuilders in Scotland in 1891 . He 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 . King David Kalākaua of Hawaii bestowed on Brassey the honor " Knight Commander of the Royal Order of Kalākaua " . Freemasonry . He was a freemason . He was initiated to the craft as an Oxford student . In 1868 , he became a member of Abbey Lodge No . 1184 and remained for 48 years . He was also a member of Derwent Lodge No . 4 and a founding brother of Navy Lodge No . 2612 . When he was appointed Governor of Victoria , while he had never held any Lodge office , he was appointed Honorary Past Junior Grand Warden . In Melbourne , became a member of Clarke Lodge No . 98 and became its Senior Warden in 1896 and its Worshipful Master in 1897 . On 4 May 1896 two days before being installed as Senior Warden , he was installed Grand Master of the Grand Lodge of Victoria . His becoming of Grand Master was a bit controversial because many members preferred then - current Grand Master Sir William Clarke , 1st Baronet to stay and nominated him again . Clarke said that he would like the nomination to be withdrawn if Brassey was willing to serve . Brassey approved and Clarke withdrew the nomination , so Brassey was the sole candidate and therefore elected Grand Master . Family . 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 .