William Baliol BRETT- Baron Esher

1815 - 1899  (84 years)

• Name	William Baliol BRETT- Baron Esher
  Born	13.08.1815	Chelsea, London   [1]
  Gender	Male
  Occupation	1861	London - Appointed Queen's Counsel
  Occupation	1885	London - Raised to Peerage as Baron Esher
  Died	24.05.1899	London   [1]
  Person ID	I1474	Tarleton
  Last Modified	12 Apr 2021

  
  

  Father	Rev Joseph George BRETT,   b. 1790,   d. May 1852, Chelsea  (Age 62 years)
  Mother	Dorothy BEST,   b. C 1791, Kent
  Family ID	F631	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family ID

  F615

  Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

  Family	Eugenie MEYER
  Married	1852
  Children	1. Reginald Baliol BRETT,   b. 30.06.1852, London ,   d. 22.01.1930  (Age 78 years)
  Last Modified	19 Jan 2021
  Family ID	F1290	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Photos

  BK 1474 William Brett - Viscount Esher.jpg

  
  

• Notes

  Sir William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher was born on 13 August 1815. He married Eugenie Mayer on 17 August 1844. He died on 24 May 1899 at age 83. Children of Sir William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher and Eugenie Mayer: Eugenie Violet Adele Brett+ d. 13 Mar 1938 Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher+ b. 30 Jun 1852, d. 22 Jan 1930 From Wikipedia William Baliol Brett, 1st Viscount Esher PC (August 13, 1817 - May 24, 1899), English lawyer and Master of the Rolls. Brett was a son of the Rev. Joseph G. Brett, of Chelsea. He was educated at Westminster and at Caius College, Cambridge. Called to the bar in 1840, he went to the northern circuit, and became a Queens Counsel in 1861. On the death of Richard Cobden he unsuccessfully contested Rochdale as a Conservative, but in 1866 was returned for Helston in unique circumstances. He and his opponent polled exactly the same number of votes, whereupon the mayor, as returning officer, gave his casting vote for the Liberal candidate. As this vote was given after four o'clock, however, an appeal was lodged, and the House of Commons allowed both members to take their seats. Brett rapidly made his mark in the House, and in 1868 he was appointed Solicitor General. On behalf of the crown he prosecuted the Fenians charged with having caused the Clerkenwell explosion. In parliament he took a leading part in the promotion of bills connected with the administration of law and justice. He was (August 1868) appointed a justice in the Court of Common Pleas. Some of his sentences in this capacity excited much criticism, notably so in the case of the gas stokers' strike, when he sentenced the defendants to imprisonment for twelve months, with hard labor, which was afterwards reduced by the Home Secretary to four months. On the reconstitution of the Court of Appeal in 1876, Brett was elevated to the rank of a Lord Justice. After holding this position for seven years, he succeeded Sir George Jessel as Master of the Rolls in 1883. In 1885 he was raised to the House of Lords as Baron Esher. He opposed the bill proposing that an accused person or his wife might give evidence in their own case, and supported the bill which empowered Lords of Appeal to sit and vote after their retirement. The Solicitors Act 1888, which increased the powers of the Incorporated Law Society, owed much to his influence. In 1880 he delivered a remarkable speech in the house of Lords, deprecating the delay and expense of trials, which he regarded as having been increased by the Judicature Acts. In 1852 he married Eugenie Meyer, possibly the illegitimate daughter of Napoleon Bonaparte and Fanny Meyer (although family history suggests that her father was one Louis Mayer about whom nothing is known). They had two sons, Reginald (2nd Viscount Esher) and Eugene, and a daughter Violet. Lord Esher suffered, perhaps, as Master of the Rolls, from succeeding a lawyer of such eminence as Jessel. He had a caustic tongue, but also a fund of shrewd common sense, and one of his favorite considerations was whether a certain course was business or not. He retired from the bench at the close of 1897, and a Viscountcy was conferred upon him on his retirement, a dignity never given to any judge, Lord Chancellors excepted, for mere legal conduct since the time of Lord Coke. He died in London. See Wiki https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/William_Brett,_1st_Viscount_Esher

  
  

• Sources

  [S175] http://www.thepeerage.com/p991.htm#i9910.