 In 1880 he was elevated to the peerage as Baron Brabourne.Born Edward Hugessen Knatchbull, he was the younger son of Sir Edward Knatchbull, 9th Baronet, who twice served as Paymaster-General, and his second wife Fanny Catherine Knight, who was a niece of author Jane Austen.In 1849 he assumed by Royal licence the additional surname of Hugessen, which was the maiden surname of his father's mother.