Mason was born in London, one of eight children born to John Mason, an upholsterer, and Jane Eliza, nee Browning, aunt of the poet Robert Browning. He established his own lithography business in London and wrote The Practical Lithographer (1852). Mason migrated to Australia in 1853 and married the young widow Jessy Montague. He established his own engraving and lithography firm. In 1855 he issued an illustrated weekly newspaper, The Illustrated Family News, and in 1869, The Building News.
Despite unsatisfactory business ventures, Mason produced a sketch of the new Melbourne Town Hall which he lithographed himself and had published by De Gruchy & Company. He attended art classes at the National Gallery School in 1871 and in 1872 was reappointed draughtsman in the Engineer-in-Chief's Office of the Victorian Railways until retirement in 1889. Most of Mason's known original art work dates from the 1870s. He was a member of the Victorian Academy of Arts. In 1883 Mason founded the Buonarottie Club for the 'cultivation and practice of Art, Literature and Music'. Its members included Sir John Longstaff, Rupert Bunny and Tom Roberts.
Mason spent over a decade in retirement at Tynong in Gippsland before returning to Melbourne where he wrote the manuscript, The Poet Robert Browning and His Kinsfolk by His Cousin Cyrus Mason (published in 1983). This publication also contains a photo of Mason and members of his family.
(Source: The Dictionary of Australian Artists : Painters, Sketchers, Photographers and Engravers to 1870 edited by Joan Kerr (1992): 519-520.)
