Thomas Allnutt Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey (7 March 1863 – 12 November 1919), styled Viscount Hythe between 1911 and 1918, was a British peer, who was for many years editor or joint editor of The Naval Annual.
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Early life
Brassey was the only son of Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey, by his first wife Anna (née Allnutt), daughter of John Allnutt. He was educated at Eton and Balliol College, Oxford.
Career
Brassey was an honorary Lieutenant in the London Brigade of Royal Naval Artillery Volunteers from 1888 to 1892. He acted as Assistant Private Secretary to Earl Spencer during the time the latter was First Lord of the Admiralty (1892–1895), and in 1894 was Assistant Secretary of the Royal Commission on Opium that his father chaired.
Brassey was appointed a captain in the Queen's Own West Kent Yeomanry on 19 January 1898. After the outbreak of the Second Boer War in late 1899, Brassey volunteered for active service with the Imperial Yeomanry, and was commissioned Captain of the 69 (Sussex) Company on 28 March 1900. He left Southampton for South Africa in early April 1900 on the SS Carisbrooke Castle, accompanied by his wife. While in South Africa he served as acting Civil Commissioner for the British government at Pretoria in 1901, following its surrender by the Boers the previous year.