Esme Howard was one of the most gifted and important British diplomats in the first third of the twentieth century. He was born in September 1863. His first memory of great-Power politics was when he was 7 years old; the Franco-Prussian War had broken out and, since France was seen to be the embodiment of evil, his family were ‘all passionately united in favour of Germany’. He died in August 1939, just one month before the outbreak of the Second World War. The end of his life was a counterpoint to its beginning. Like many other thoughtful and knowledgeable British observers in the late 1930s, he had worried about the worsening international situation, its effect on Britain and the Empire, and how diplomacy could be used to safeguard both international peace and security and British interests. A way had to be found around the ‘cataracts and whirlpools’.

Howard's life and diplomatic career, the latter stretching from 1903 to 1930, coincided with the decline in Britain's position from the only truly global Power to just one of a number of great Powers with varying international commitments.