Lord Esher: A Political Biography

by Peter Fraser

Although wielding huge influence in late Victorian and Edwardian political life, Reginald Baliol Brett (1852 1930), the second Lord Esher was, an enigma to his contemporaries and still remains a puzzle to historians.At the heart of British and Imperial political affairs for several decades, Esher sat in both Houses of Parliament, was a high ranking civil servant, friend and confidential advisor to three Sovereigns and four Prime Ministers (of differing political hues) and yet refused high office offered by both Liberals and Conservatives. Yet his behind-the-scenes influence through his range of friends in high places gave him unmatched, some thought undemocratic, power. Despite his lack of military service he was instrumental through his work on the Committee for Imperial Defence (CID) and its Secretarial for the wholesale reorganisation of the Armed Forces. It could be said that Esher, with his grasp of power without responsibility, was a unique phenomenon in British history.The Author, while compiling this fascinating study, drew on Cabinet and CID files, the Royal Archives and the papers of the Esher, Balfour, Asquith and Lloyd George estates. The result is a brilliant readable yet scholarly addition to British political bibliography.

512 pages, ebook

First published July 16, 2013

Reviews

[Richard Thomas · Rating 3 out of 5]

Lord Esher was an enigmatic shadowy figure in Britain in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. He was an MP at one stage and in the House of Lords but he avoided formal office. Most of his life as spent behind the scenes influencing rather than leading and deciding; he was influential in the 1910 political crisis over the House of Lords rejecting Lloyd George's budget for example. One might reasonably conclude that he enjoyed power without responsibility. This biography goes into detail about his political and administrative life and at the end you know much of what he did but not why he preferred to be a background figure. It is turgidly written and I skipped chunks because I found them tedious. It's a pity that such an important and interesting figure does not have a better account of hs life and times.

[Scott · Rating 3 out of 5]

Pretty dry. The book reads like a military history given Esther’s heavy involvement in the reorganization of the army. I had always thought that Esther was an innovator but it really seems they Esher was part of the problem in the British performance in WWI. It seems that he WANTED to keep the army as “amateur” (the word was actually used several times in the book) as possible since that was part of the burritos/English tradition.