ESHER, WILLIAM BALIOL BRETT, I ST VISCOUNT (1817--1899), English lawyer and master of the rolls, was born at Chelsea, London, on Aug. 13, 1817. He was educated at West minster and at Caius college, Cambridge. Called to the bar in 1840, he went the northern circuit, and became a Q.C. in 1861. On the death of Richard Cobden he unsuccessfully contested Rochdale as a Conservative, but in 1866 was returned for Helston. 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 ex plosion. 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 labour, 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. The Solicitors Act of 1888, which increased the powers of the Incorporated Law Society, owed much to his influence. He retired from the bench at the close of 1897, and a viscounty was conferred upon him on his retirement. He died in London on May 24, 1899.