Oliver Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher

Oliver Sylvain Baliol Brett, 3rd Viscount Esher, (23 March 1881 – 8 October 1963) was a British peer and politician.

Early life Brett was the elder son of the Liberal courtier and politician Reginald Brett, 2nd Viscount Esher, the Governor of Windsor Castle, and Eleanor Van de Weyer, daughter of Belgian ambassador Sylvain Van de Weyer and grand-daughter of Anglo-American financier Joshua Bates. who married the famous musical theatre actress Zena Dare; Dorothy, who was a painter and member of the Bloomsbury Group; and Sylvia, who became the last Ranee of Sarawak on 24 May 1917, following the proclamation of her husband Charles Vyner Brooke as Rajah.

He was educated at Eton. Brett was a friend of his eventual wife's brother, G. Maurice Heckscher.

Career He was an unpaid private secretary to Lord Morley, the Secretary of State for India, from 1905 to 1910. In the January and December 1910 elections he unsuccessfully stood for Huntingdon as a Liberal. In 1914, he joined the 1/16th (County of London) Battalion (Queen's Westminster Rifles), and was attached to the War Office. For his wartime service he was appointed a Member of the Order of the British Empire (Military Division) in 1918.

Esher was chairman of the general purposes committee of the National Trust for 25 years, and of its historical buildings committee from its inception in 1934.

On 1 October 1912, the then Hon. Oliver Brett was married to the American-born Antoinette Heckscher (1884–1967) at Wincoma, the country home of her parents in Huntington on Long Island in New York. Antoinette was the daughter of German-born August Heckscher, who made his fortune in zinc mining with the New Jersey Zinc Company before entering the New York real estate business. Her paternal grandparents were Johann Gustav Heckscher, a German politician who was the Minister of Justice in the provisional German government headed by Archduke John of Austria, and Marie Antoinette (née Brautigan) Heckscher. After their marriage, the couple first made their home at Orchard Lea, Windsor Forest, Together, Esher and Antoinette were the parents of:

Lionel Brett, 4th Viscount Esher (1913–2004), a former president of the Royal Institute of British Architects. Hon. Virginia Anne Charlotte Brett (1916–1990) Hon. Nancy Mildred Gladys Brett (1918–1999), who married Sir Evelyn Shuckburgh, the British Ambassador to Italy. Hon. Priscilla Leónie Helen Brett (1921–2000), who became Lady Beckett upon her marriage to Sir Martyn Gervase Beckett, 2nd Bt.

Lord Esher died on 8 October 1963 at which time he was succeeded in his titles by his son, Lionel. His widow died less than two years later, on 22 July 1965.

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