Anna Brassey
Encyclopedia
Anna Brassey, Baroness Brassey (née Allnutt) (7 October 1839 – 14 September 1887) was an English
traveller and writer. Her bestselling book, A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months was published in 1878.
The daughter of John Allnutt, she married the English member of parliament
Sir Thomas Brassey
(later Earl Brassey), with whom she lived near his Hastings
constituency
. The couple had five children together before they travelled aboard their luxury yacht Sunbeam. The number of people on board was 43. A Voyage in the Sunbeam, describing their journey around the world in 1876-7, ran through many English editions and was translated into at least five other languages. Her accounts of later voyages include Sunshine and Storm in the East (1880); In the Trades, the Tropics, and the Roaring Forties (1885); and The Last Voyage (1889, published posthumously).
At home in England, she performed charitable work, largely for the St. John Ambulance Association. Her collection of ethnographic
and natural history
material were shown in a museum at her husband's London house until they were moved to Hastings Museum in 1919.
Lady Brassey's last voyage on the Sunbeam was to India
and Australia
, undertaken in November 1886 to improve her health. On the way to Mauritius
, she died of malaria
on 14 September 1887, and was buried at sea.
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
traveller and writer. Her bestselling book, A Voyage in the Sunbeam, our Home on the Ocean for Eleven Months was published in 1878.
Member 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,...
Sir Thomas Brassey
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey GCB, JP, DL, TD , was a British Liberal Party politician, Governor of Victoria and founder of The Naval Annual.-Background and education:...
(later Earl Brassey), with whom she lived near his Hastings
Hastings
Hastings is a town and borough in the county of East Sussex on the south coast of England. The town is located east of the county town of Lewes and south east of London, and has an estimated population of 86,900....
constituency
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....
. The couple had five children together before they travelled aboard their luxury yacht Sunbeam. The number of people on board was 43. A Voyage in the Sunbeam, describing their journey around the world in 1876-7, ran through many English editions and was translated into at least five other languages. Her accounts of later voyages include Sunshine and Storm in the East (1880); In the Trades, the Tropics, and the Roaring Forties (1885); and The Last Voyage (1889, published posthumously).
At home in England, she performed charitable work, largely for the St. John Ambulance Association. Her collection of ethnographic
Ethnography
Ethnography is a qualitative method aimed to learn and understand cultural phenomena which reflect the knowledge and system of meanings guiding the life of a cultural group...
and natural history
Natural history
Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...
material were shown in a museum at her husband's London house until they were moved to Hastings Museum in 1919.
Lady Brassey's last voyage on the Sunbeam was to India
India
India , officially the Republic of India , is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by geographical area, the second-most populous country with over 1.2 billion people, and the most populous democracy in the world...
and 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...
, undertaken in November 1886 to improve her health. On the way to Mauritius
Mauritius
Mauritius , officially the Republic of Mauritius is an island nation off the southeast coast of the African continent in the southwest Indian Ocean, about east of Madagascar...
, she died of malaria
Malaria
Malaria is a mosquito-borne infectious disease of humans and other animals caused by eukaryotic protists of the genus Plasmodium. The disease results from the multiplication of Plasmodium parasites within red blood cells, causing symptoms that typically include fever and headache, in severe cases...
on 14 September 1887, and was buried at sea.
Sources
- Brassey [née Allnutt], Anna [Annie], Lady Brassey (1839–1887), entry in the Oxford Dictionary of National Biography