Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, GCVO, KCB, PC, DL (30 June 1852 – 22 January 1930) was a British historian and Liberal Party politician, although his greatest influence over military and foreign affairs was as a courtier, member of public committees and behind-the-scenes "fixer", or rather éminence grise.

His father, William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher, was a distinguished barrister who later gained prominence as a Member of Parliament for his dutiful support of Benjamin Disraeli during the 1867 Reform Act debate.

He was Solicitor General in Disraeli's first ministry in 1868, and later a judge on the Court of Common Pleas, Lord Justice of Appeal and Master of the Rolls.

[2] Reginald's mother, Eugénie Mayer (1814–1904), was the French stepdaughter of Colonel John Gurwood, the editor of Wellington's dispatches who killed himself in 1845.

[6] The exact nature of Brett's relationship with Johnson, a proponent of the ancient Greek practice of ephebophilia who was forced to resign from Eton in 1872 over an indiscreet letter to a young pupil, has long been a source of speculation.

[7] At the very least, Johnson was an eager observer and catalyst of homosexual relationships among his pupils, including Brett, who began romances with Charles D. R. Williamson and Francis Elliot.

Through the Ripons and Harcourt, Brett came to reject his father's Toryism and adopt the Whig principles that would lead him to join the Liberal Party.

[11] Having been a Conservative as a young man, Brett began his political career in 1880 as Liberal Member of Parliament for Penryn and Falmouth and associate of Lord Hartington.

However, the resolution of the Great Eastern Crisis and success of the 1878–80 Midlothian Campaign had re-energized William Ewart Gladstone's authority as rightful leader of the Liberals, marginalising Hartington and Brett as jingoes.

In 1895, Brett became Permanent Secretary to the Office of Works, where Edward, Prince of Wales, was impressed by his zeal and dedication to the elderly Queen Victoria.

In that role, he informed the King of the views of the Commission, party leaders, and War Office civil servants with whom he was still in touch from his days working for Hartington.

[12] Haldane's initial Liberal reforms were thrown out by the House of Lords, and the resulting documents more closely resembled Esher's original efforts.

"[25] Although Edward VII urged Esher's appointment as Secretary of State for War, he declined it, along with many other public offices, including the Viceroyalty of India.

He founded the Society of Islanders, established on the principle of "two for one Keels", an expression of British naval supremacy in order to maintain global peace.

[32] In one writer's description, Esher served as de facto head of British Intelligence in France, reporting on the French domestic and political situation, although he told his son he preferred not to have a formal position where he would have to take orders.

[12] His son Maurice set up a bureau in Paris called Intelligence Anglaise, keeping his father informed through a small spy network with links to newspaper journalists.

[34][page needed] He also made contact in Paris with Maurice Bunau-Varilla, owner and editor of Le Matin, with the intent of influencing the Russian Empire to remain in the Allied Forces and the United States to join.

[35] By 1916, however, the French war effort was almost spent, and Esher reported that Finance Minister Alexandre Ribot sought to sue for peace.

[37] Esher accompanied Haig to the Amiens Conference, but on his return to Paris, was informed of the sinking of the HMS Hampshire and death of Earl Kitchener.

Phillipe Petain, the new French commander-in-chief, was deemed too defensive, and Esher sent Colonel Charles à Court Repington on a "charm offensive".

As cabinet enforcer, Esher visited Henry Wilson on 9 February 1918, during the crisis over his succession to William Robertson as Chief of the Imperial General Staff.

In France, Esher established a rapprochement with the press to help hold the Poincare-Clemenceau government together, at a time when England was at the zenith of her military strength.

[clarification needed] Domestic unrest and trade unionism, which Esher loathed, as it threatened peace and stability, also destabilized his position as President of the Army of India Committee.

Ever skeptical of political changes, "omnivorous" introductions to the Viceroy's work forced him to decline a solicitous offer to chair a sub-committee of the Conditions of the Poor.