Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher
Edwardian courtier, original member of Rhodes's secret society, military-reform fixer (1852-1930)
Also known as: Esher, Lord Esher, Brett, Reginald Brett, R. B. Brett
Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher (1852-1930), was a courtier, military reformer, and one of the three founding members of the secret society that became the The Milner Group. Quigley names him alongside Rhodes and Stead at the 5 February 1891 founding meeting and on the original 'Junta of Three' executive committee with Milner. As permanent chairman of the Committee of Imperial Defence (1905-1930) and 'the most influential adviser of King Edward VII and King George V' (AAE 4), Esher operated as the Group's discreet liaison to the monarchy and the military establishment.
Courtier and intimate of the monarchy
Reginald Brett, the future Lord Esher, sat at the intersection of Westminster, Buckingham Palace, and the editorial offices of Stead's Pall Mall Gazette. Quigley describes him as 'friend and confidant of Queen Victoria, and later to be the most influential adviser of King Edward VII and King George V' (AAE 4). Stead, writing in 1902 of Brett and Milner, called them 'two friends, now members of the Upper House, who were thoroughly in sympathy with the gospel according to the Pall Mall Gazette and who had been as my right and left hands during my editorship of the paper' (AAE 36). Brett 'worked his way into the confidence of the monarchy to become its chief political adviser during a period of more than twenty-five years (he wrote almost daily letters of advice to King Edward during his reign, 1901-1910)' (T&H 150).
Founding member of the secret society
Quigley places Brett at the original 5 February 1891 organizational meeting as one of the three founding figures: 'In this secret society Rhodes was to be leader; Stead, Brett (Lord Esher), and Milner were to form an executive committee' (T&H 144). The fragmentary documentary record of the society's early years is largely drawn, by Quigley, from the Journals of Lord Esher — Brett's private record. 'This society took another step forward during Rhodes's visit to England in February 1890. The evidence for this is to be found in the Journals of Lord Esher (at that time R. B. Brett), who had obviously been let in on the plan by Stead' (AAE 32). Esher's journal entry for 3 February 1890 records: 'Cecil Rhodes arrived last night from South Africa. I was at Stead's today when he called' (AAE 32). Brett, by Quigley's account, was the man who once Milner had been added to the Junta of Three found 'secret signs or oaths were so much claptrap' and re-engineered the society's culture toward informal coordination without ritual (AAE 34).
Committee of Imperial Defence
After the Boer War exposed the poor performance of the British military, the Esher Commission (1903) recommended a permanent Committee of Imperial Defence. Brett — by then Lord Esher — became its unofficial chairman from 1905 until his death in 1930 (T&H 157-158). 'Esher became (unofficially) chairman of this committee, holding the position for the rest of his life (1905-1930). He was able to establish an Imperial General Staff in 1907 and to get a complete reorganization of the military forces of New Zealand, Australia' and the Dominions (T&H 158). Quigley treats the Committee of Imperial Defence — through Esher's chair and Hankey's secretaryship — as one of the two or three permanent administrative bodies through which the Group exercised continuous policy influence.
The Triple Entente
Esher was one of the British architects of the diplomatic realignment that produced the Triple Entente. Quigley locates him among 'the generally anti-Prussian influences around King Edward [that] played a significant part in building up the Triple Entente and in strengthening it when Germany foolishly challenged their projects in Morocco in the 1904-1912 period' (T&H 229). He was also one of the civilians who, alongside Clemenceau in France, pushed for the inter-service strategic planning that made August 1914 possible: 'Clemenceau in France, and, above all, Lord Esher and the members of the Committee on Imperial Defence in England should be mentioned here' (T&H 241). Quigley clearly admires Esher: 'In this Group were persons like Esher, Grey, Milner, Hankey, and Zimmern, who must command the admiration and affection of all who know of them' (AAE 3).
Cited in
- anglo-american-establishment · p. 3 Quigley
In this Group were persons like Esher, Grey, Milner, Hankey, and Zimmern, who must command the admiration and affection of all who know of them.
- anglo-american-establishment · p. 4 Quigley
The third was Reginald Baliol Brett, later known as Lord Esher, friend and confidant of Queen Victoria, and later to be the most influential adviser of King Edward VII and King George V.
- anglo-american-establishment · p. 30 Quigley
On 5 February 1896, three years after his sixth will, Rhodes ended a long conversation with R. B. Brett (later Lord Esher) by saying, 'Wish we could get our secret society.'
- anglo-american-establishment · p. 32 Quigley
The evidence for this is to be found in the Journals of Lord Esher (at that time R. B. Brett), who had obviously been let in on the plan by Stead. Under date of 3 February 1890, we read in these Journals: 'Cecil Rhodes arrived last night from South Africa.'
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 144 Quigley
A similar group of Cambridge men including Reginald Baliol Brett (Lord Esher), Sir John B. Seeley, Albert (Lord) Grey, and Edmund Garrett were also aroused by Ruskin's message and devoted their lives to extension of the British Empire.
- tragedy-and-hope · p. 158 Quigley
Esher became (unofficially) chairman of this committee, holding the position for the rest of his life (1905-1930). He was able to establish an Imperial General Staff in 1907.