Lionel Gordon Baliol Brett, 4th Viscount Esher, 4th Baron Esher

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(18 July 1913 – 9 July 2004) was a British peer, architect and town-planner. He succeeded to his title on the death of his father in 1963.

Early life

Brett was born in

Windsor, Berkshire Windsor is a historic market town and unparished area in the Royal Borough of Windsor and Maidenhead in Berkshire, England. It is the site of Windsor Castle, one of the official residences of the British monarch. The town is situated west ...

, the son of Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher and Antoinette Heckscher (1888-1965). His paternal grandparents were Eleanor ( née Van de Weyer) Brett and

Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher Reginald Baliol Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, (30 June 1852 – 22 January 1930) was an historian and Liberal politician in the United Kingdom, although his greatest influence over military and foreign affairs was as a courtier, member of public c ...

, an MP and the

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and a close friend and adviser of

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until his death in 1910. The second child and eldest son of Queen Victoria and ...

and

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until his death in 1936. Born during the reign of his grandmother Qu ...

. His maternal grandparents were Anna (née Atkins) Heckscher and August Heckscher (1848–1941), a German-born American capitalist and philanthropist. His grandfather married Virginia Henry Curtiss after his grandmother's death in 1924. He was educated at Eton and New College, Oxford, where he read history.

Career

He proceeded to the

Architectural Association The Architectural Association School of Architecture in London, commonly referred to as the AA, is the oldest independent school of architecture in the UK and one of the most prestigious and competitive in the world. Its wide-ranging programme ...

, but left to learn from the traditionalist A. S. G. Butler and then, as a non-qualified partner of

William William is a male given name of Germanic origin.Hanks, Hardcastle and Hodges, ''Oxford Dictionary of First Names'', Oxford University Press, 2nd edition, , p. 276. It became very popular in the English language after the Norman conquest of Engl ...

and Aileen Tatton Brown, passed the RIBA external exams in the summer of 1939, winning the Ashpitel Prize. He spent the

Second World War World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposi ...

mostly in Britain, training gunners in the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

, until he went through France and Belgium to witness the surrender of

Lübeck Lübeck (; Low German also ), officially the Hanseatic City of Lübeck (german: Hansestadt Lübeck), is a city in Northern Germany. With around 217,000 inhabitants, Lübeck is the second-largest city on the German Baltic coast and in the state ...

and

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. In 1945, he stood as

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

parliamentary candidate for Henley, coming third in the poll. He formed a partnership with Kenneth Boyd to design new houses as Architect-Planner of Hatfield New Town and wrote the initial report of the Hatfield Development Corporation. In November 1957, some 50 of Hatfield's two-storey terraced houses lost their mono-pitched roofs in a storm, and the adverse publicity and financial liability ended his business. From this period, despite not wanting to be known as a country-house architect, he was most proud of small houses in Oxfordshire for Hans Juda and in Warwickshire for Lord Dormer. A design for the High Commissioner's residence in Lagos in 1958 was compromised by the taste of an incoming Commissioner's wife. A second practice terminated in 1971. Esher's real interest was in planning, and he carried out a study of York for the government, after which he published ''York: a study in conservation'' (1968). After a period as Rector of the

Royal College of Art The Royal College of Art (RCA) is a public research university in London, United Kingdom, with campuses in South Kensington, Battersea and White City. It is the only entirely postgraduate art and design university in the United Kingdom. It o ...

(1971–1978) he turned again to writing. ''A Broken Wave: the rebuilding of England 1940-1980'' (1981) was an attempt to chronicle and analyse the achievements of post-war architecture and planning, following on from ''Parameters and Images: architecture in a crowded world'' (1970). He served as president of the

Royal Institute of British Architects The Royal Institute of British Architects (RIBA) is a professional body for architects primarily in the United Kingdom, but also internationally, founded for the advancement of architecture under its royal charter granted in 1837, three supp ...

from 1966 to 1967 and was appointed a Commander of the

Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) in 1970. National Life Stories conducted an oral history interview (C467/14) with Lionel Gordon Baliol Brett Esher in 1997 for its Architects Lives' collection held by the British Library.National Life Stories, 'Esher, Lionel Gordon Baliol Brett (1 of 13) National Life Stories Collection: Architects' Lives', The British Library Board, 1997
Retrieved 10 April 2018

Personal life

In 1935, he married Helena Christian Pike, a painter. She was the daughter of Colonel Ebenezer John Lecky Pike and Olive Snell. Her sister, Katherine Mary Penelope Pike, was married to

Lawrence Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland Lawrence Aldred Mervyn Dundas, 3rd Marquess of Zetland (12 November 1908 – 5 October 1989) was a lawn tennis player of some note in the 1940s, known before 1961 as the Earl of Ronaldshay. Dundas performed at the All England Championships, W ...

. Together, Lionel and Helena were the parents of: * Christopher Lionel Baliol Brett, 5th Viscount Esher (b. 1936) * Hon. Michael Jeremy Baliol Brett (b. 1939) * Hon. Guy Anthony Baliol Brett (1942–2021) * Hon. Maurice Sebastion Baliol Brett (b. 1944) * Hon. Olivia Clare Teresa Brett (b. 1947) * Hon. Stephen Patrick Baliol Brett (b. 1952) The Esher family lived in Watlington Park, a country house in the Chilterns, from where Lionel Brett also ran his architectural practice. He later gave the house to his eldest son, and built a house of his own design, named The Tower, on the grounds of the estate. Esher's autobiography ''Ourselves Unknown'' records how he nursed his wife through a long mental breakdown in the 1960s, but notes that she gave him equal support and strength over nearly 70 years. Viscount Esher died aged 90 in 2004.

Arms

References

External links

Photograph of Viscount Esher
at the National Portrait Gallery, London * {{DEFAULTSORT:Esher, Lionel Gordon, 4th Viscount 1913 births 2004 deaths Military personnel from Berkshire People educated at Eton College People from Windsor, Berkshire Alumni of New College, Oxford 20th-century English architects Presidents of the Royal Institute of British Architects Viscounts in the Peerage of the United Kingdom Architects from Berkshire Rectors of the Royal College of Art Commanders of the Order of the British Empire British Army personnel of World War II Royal Artillery officers

Esher Esher ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, to the east of the River Mole. Esher is an outlying suburb of London near the London-Surrey Border, and with Esher Commons at its southern end, the town marks one limit of the Greater London Built-Up ...