Felicity Tree

Born in Chelsea, London, in 1894,[http://interactive.ancestry.co.uk/8912/ONS_B18952AZ-0581?pid=56006499&backurl=http%3a%2f%2fsearch.ancestry.co.uk%2f%2fcgi-bin%2fsse.dll%3findiv%3d1%26dbid%3d8912%26h%3d56006499%26ssrc%3dpt%26tid%3d56347086%26pid%3d42009809652%26usePUB%3dtrue&ssrc=pt&treeid=56347086&personid=42009809652&hintid=&usePUB=true Felicity Tree], England & Wales, Free BMD Birth Index, 1837–1915, Ancestry.com (pay to view) Tree was the middle daughter of the actor Sir Herbert Beerbohm Tree and his wife, the actress Helen Maud Holt. She was the sister of Viola Tree and Iris Tree, and the niece of the author Constance Beerbohm, the caricaturist and parodist Max Beerbohm, and the engineer and explorer Julius Beerbohm. Her grandson is Richard Cory-Wright, 4th Baronet 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.{{Cite news|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=B94RAAAAYAAJ&dq=%22felicity%20tree%22&pg=PA374|title = The Cult of the Child|date = 20 May 1908|work = The Bystander|access-date = 8 January 2016|page = 374}} 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.{{Cite journal|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=relAAQAAMAAJ&dq=%22felicity%20tree%22&pg=RA1-PA170|title = The Stage From the Stalls|last = E.F.S.|date = 20 May 1908|journal = The Sketch|access-date = 8 January 2016|page = 170|volume = 62}}The London Standard reported that the performances benefited the Army and Navy Male Nurses Cooperation. {{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/uk/middlesex/london/london-standard/1909/06-11/page-10?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree&page=2|title = Matinee on Behalf of Army and Navy Nurses|date = 11 June 1909|work = London Standard|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} 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.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/new-york/new-york-times/1911/04-16/page-16?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree&page=4|title = Shakespeare Ball|date = 16 April 1911|work = The New York Times|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} In 1912, The Evening News reported that Tree sold programmes at the Keats-Shelley Memorial matinees at the Haymarket Theatre.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/uk/middlesex/london/london-evening-news/1912/06-21/page-5?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree|title = Social Gossip|date = 21 June 1912|work = The Evening News|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}

She was presented at the court by Margot Asquith in 1913, and she wore a white satin gown with a rose pink train made of tulle and lace.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/uk/middlesex/london/london-standard/1913/06-11/page-10?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree&page=3|title = Their Majesties Court|date = 11 June 1913|work = London Standard|access-date = 8 January 2016}} From as far away as California, the press commented on her attendance, with her sister Iris, at a fancy dress costume ball in 1913.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/us/california/oakland/oakland-tribune/1913/03-09/page-39?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree&page=2|title = With Those Pictured Here|date = 9 March 1913|work = Oakland Tribune|access-date = 7 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} The same year, she went in ancient Greek-style dress to the Picture Ball at Royal Albert Hall.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/uk/middlesex/london/london-standard/1913/11-27/page-6?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree&page=2|title = Next Week's Picture Ball at the Albert Hall|date = 27 November 1913|work = London Standard|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} In 1914 she sang a role in the cantata La Damoiselle élue at the French embassy in London.{{Cite book|title = Flappers: Six Women of a Dangerous Generation|last = Mackrell|first = Judith|publisher = Sarah Crichton Books|year = 2014|isbn = 9781429942942|url = https://books.google.com/books?id=kXXWAAAAQBAJ&pg=PT376}} The same year, she attended the Picture Ball at Albert Hall and was profiled in the Kingston Gleaner, which wrote that "she has inherited a great sense of humour from her famous father."{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/jm/kingston/kingston/kingston-gleaner/1914/01-03/page-30?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree|title = Miss Felicity Tree|date = 3 January 1914|work = Kingston Gleaner|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} Later in 1914 she trained as a nurse at St Bartholomew's Hospital,{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/uk/middlesex/london/london-standard/1914/11-13/page-9?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree|title = In the Wings|date = 13 November 1914|work = London Standard|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }} having been a life saver from 1908, when she passed the tests provided by the Royal Life Saving Society in 1908.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/us/new-york/new-york/new-york-times/1908/12-20/page-26?tag=felicity+tree&rtserp=tags/?pep=felicity-tree|title = Women in Swimming Tests|date = 20 December 1908|work = The New York Times|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive|url-access=subscription }}

Tree married Sir Geoffrey Cory-Wright, 3rd Baronet Cory-Wright, son of Sir Arthur Cory-Wright, 2nd Bt, and Elizabeth Olive Clothier, on 10 November 1915.{{Cite news|url = https://newspaperarchive.com/uk/middlesex/london/london-standard/1915/11-11/page-9?tag=lady+cory+wright+felicity&rtserp=tags/?pep=lady-cory-wright&plo=felicity|title = Court Circular|date = 11 November 1915|work = London Standard|access-date = 8 January 2016|via = Newspaper Archive}} 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.[http://www.screenonline.org.uk/film/id/732156/synopsis.html War Time Weddings (1915)] 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.[http://www.roll-of-honour.com/Norfolk/Brancaster.html Brancaster War Memorial website] 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.[https://docs.google.com/gview?a=v&q=cache:RaLILSvdqpIJ:www.sunningdaleladies.co.uk/images/LSGS_picturev4.pdf+Felicity+cory-wright&hl=en&gl=uk&pid=bl&srcid=ADGEESg4Np5tyqxdx8voKZOb8VmPBr_s2jFGl47RVUbKTZzWtMBezNvwaaTgxoa9E1RCOvXAbFREoAKMKKhDruDADHsQM9wuSuoHgVDhH3ubtbNLUOfezXcO8-lzw-NSb-AZsd2K00q2&sig=AFQjCNFrw7fPYRyoTue5UPmIEFY-2LnxLQ Ladies Stage Golfing Society website] Through golf she met the future Labour Party leader Hugh Gaitskell, whose first love she became.Brivati, p. 121

She died at her home in Brancaster, Norfolk, at the age of eighty-three.{{Cite news|url = http://find.galegroup.com/ttda/newspaperRetrieve.do?sgHitCountType=None&sort=DateAscend&tabID=T003&prodId=TTDA&resultListType=RESULT_LIST&searchId=R2&searchType=BasicSearchForm¤tPosition=787&qrySerId=Locale%28en%2C%2C%29%3AFQE%3D%28tx%2CNone%2C11%29Cory-Wright%24&retrieveFormat=MULTIPAGE_DOCUMENT&userGroupName=wes_ttda&inPS=true&contentSet=LTO&&docId=&docLevel=FASCIMILE&workId=&relevancePageBatch=CS403407664&contentSet=UDVIN&callistoContentSet=UDVIN&docPage=article&hilite=y|title = Deaths|date = 16 September 1978|work = The Times|access-date = 9 January 2016|via = City of Westminster Library|url-access=subscription }}

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.

• Beerbohm family

{{reflist}}

• {{cite book | last= Brivati | first= Brian | author-link = Brian Brivati |title=Hugh Gaitskell | year=1996 | location=London| publisher=Richard Cohen | isbn= 978-1-86066-073-3 }}
• {{cite book | last= Cory-Wright | first= Susana | title=Lady Tree: A Theatrical Life in Letters | year=2012 | location=Raleigh, NC| publisher=Lulu | isbn= 978-1-291-09670-5 }}

• [http://thepeerage.com/p25871.htm Felicity Tree on The Peerage website]
• [http://www.npg.org.uk/collections/search/person/mp98127/felicity-cory-wright-nee-tree Felicity Tree] on the National Portrait Gallery website

{{DEFAULTSORT:Tree, Felicity}}

Category:1894 births

Category:1978 deaths

Category:Beerbohm family

Category:English people of German descent

Category:English people of Lithuanian descent

Category:People from Chelsea, London

Category:People from Brancaster

Category:Wives of baronets