packing of their possessions and the removal. The Harrison children had been taught to speak French, while Thomas himself was unable to do so. Therefore, when the opportunity arose to apply for the French contracts, Maria was willing to act as interpreter and encouraged Thomas to bid for them. This resulted in moves to Vernon in Normandy, then to Rouen, on to Paris and back again to Rouen. Thomas refused to learn French and Maria acted as interpreter for all his French undertakings. Maria organised the education of their three sons. In time the family established a more-or-less permanent base in Lowndes Square, Belgravia, London. They had three surviving sons, who all gained distinction in their own right: Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey (1836–1918), eldest son, a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Plymouth Devonport in Devon (1865) and for Hastings in Sussex (1868–86) who served as Governor of Victoria. He was elevated to the peerage in 1886 as Baron Brassey, "of Bulkeley in the County Palatine of Chester", and in 1911 was created Viscount Hythe, "of Hythe in the County of Kent" and Earl Brassey. His only son Thomas Brassey, 2nd Earl Brassey (1863–1919) died childless when all the titles became extinct. Henry Arthur Brassey (1840–1891), DL, of Preston Hall, Aylesford, Kent and of Bath House, Piccadilly, London, a Liberal Party Member of Parliament for Sandwich in Kent. He was the father of Henry Brassey, 1st Baron Brassey of Apethorpe, a Conservative politician, who was elevated to the House of Lords in 1938. Colonel Albert Brassey (1844–1918), a rower, soldier and Conservative Member of Parliament for Banbury 1895–1906. a fourth son who died in infancy. Later years In 1870 Brassey was told that he had cancer but he continued to visit his working sites. One of his last visits was to the Wolverhampton and Walsall Railway, only a few miles from his first railway contract at Penkridge. In the late summer of 1870 he took to his bed at his home in St Leonards-on-Sea. There he was visited by members of his work force, not only his engineers and agents, but also his navvies, many of whom had walked for days to come and pay their respects. When Brassey's business friend, Edward Betts, became insolvent in 1867, Brassey bought Betts' estate at Preston Hall, Aylesford in Kent on behalf of his second son, Henry. In 1870 Brassey purchased Heythrop