Felicity, Lady Cory-Wright (born Felicity Constance Tree; 7 December 1894 – 15 September 1978) was an English

baronet A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

ess and high society figure. A daughter of the actors Sir

Herbert Beerbohm Tree Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree (17 December 1852 – 2 July 1917) was an English actor and theatre manager. Tree began performing in the 1870s. By 1887, he was managing the Haymarket Theatre in the West End, winning praise for adventurous progra ...

and

Helen Maud Holt Helen Maud Holt (5 October 1863 – 7 August 1937), professionally known as Mrs Beerbohm Tree and later Lady Tree, was an English actress. She was the wife of the actor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and the mother of Viola Tree, Felicity Tree and I ...

, she appeared regularly in news of the time starting from infancy.

Early life

Born in Chelsea, London, in 1894, Tree was the middle daughter of the actor Sir

and his wife, the actress

. She was the sister of

Viola Tree Viola Tree (17 July 1884 – 15 November 1938) was an English actress, singer, playwright and author. Daughter of the actor Herbert Beerbohm Tree, she made many of her early appearances with his company at His Majesty's Theatre. Later she appe ...

and Iris Tree, and the niece of the author

Constance Beerbohm Constance Mary Beerbohm (1856–8 January 1939), was the oldest daughter of Julius Ewald Edward Beerbohm (1811–92),

, the caricature, caricaturist and parody, parodist Max Beerbohm, and the engineer and explorer Julius Beerbohm. Her grandson is Richard Cory-Wright, 4th Baronet Cory-Wright baronets, Cory-Wright.Charles Mosley, editor, ''Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage'', 107th edition, 3 volumes (Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: ''Burke's Peerage'' (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003), Vol. 1, pp. 906–907 Tree was involved in the theatre and society at an early age. In 1908, she was praised in ''The Bystander'' for her leading role in a play by Mrs. Walter Cave, ''The Three Wishes'', opposite the daughter of the British Prime Minister, H. H. Asquith. She was later pictured in ''The Sketch'' wearing her costume; the paper reported that the performances benefited the National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children. At the Shakespeare Ball in London in 1911, ''The New York Times'' noted that she appeared with her family and dressed as Juliet from ''Romeo and Juliet''. In 1912, ''The Evening News (London newspaper), The Evening News'' reported that Tree sold programmes at the Keats-Shelley Memorial matinees at the Haymarket Theatre. She was presented at the court by Margot Asquith, Countess of Oxford and Asquith, Margot Asquith in 1913, and she wore a white satin gown with a rose pink train made of tulle (netting), tulle and lace. From as far away as California, the press commented on her attendance, with her sister Iris, at a fancy dress costume ball in 1913. The same year, she went in ancient Greek-style dress to the Picture Ball at Royal Albert Hall. In 1914 she sang a role in the cantata ''La Damoiselle élue'' at the French embassy in London. The same year, she attended the Picture Ball at Albert Hall and was profiled in the ''Gleaner Company, Kingston Gleaner'', which wrote that "she has inherited a great sense of humour from her famous father." Later in 1914 she trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital, having been a life saver from 1908, when she passed the tests provided by the Royal Life Saving Society UK, Royal Life Saving Society in 1908.

Marriage and later years

Tree married Sir Geoffrey Cory-Wright, 3rd Baronet Cory-Wright baronets, Cory-Wright, son of Sir Arthur Cory-Wright, 2nd Bt, and Elizabeth Olive Clothier, on 10 November 1915. Because of the celebrity of her father, the World War I wedding was filmed, showing the bride leaving with Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree from the parental home and arriving at the church, and the bride and groom leaving the church. The couple had five sons: Anthony (1916–1944); Michael Cory-Wright (1920–1997); David (1925–2009); Jonathan (1925–1945) and Mark (1930–2004). Two of them, Captain Anthony John Julian Cory-Wright and Lieutenant Jonathan Francis Cory-Wright, were killed in action during World War II. Anthony's son, Richard, inherited the Baronetcy. Tree was a member of the Ladies Stage Golfing Society, founded in 1921, and won the inaugural contest. Through golf she met the future Labour Party (UK), Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell, whose first love she became. She died at her home in Brancaster, Norfolk, at the age of eighty-three. A volume of correspondence by or to Tree's mother Maud, including by family members, was edited and published by Susana Cory-Wright (''nee'' Prats), the wife of Tree's grandson, Anthony Jonathan Cory-Wright, titled ''Lady Tree: A Theatrical Life in Letters'' (2012).Cory-Wright, p. 17, notes the family relationship and summarises numerous letters between Maud and Felicity.

References

Sources

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External links

Felicity Tree on The Peerage websiteFelicity Tree
on the National Portrait Gallery, London, National Portrait Gallery website {{DEFAULTSORT:Tree, Felicity 1894 births 1978 deaths Beerbohm family English people of German descent English people of Lithuanian descent People from Chelsea, London People from Brancaster Wives of baronets

Early life

Marriage and later years

See also

References

Sources

External links