100 Heroes: Ronnie Tree
The gay man who became an influential British politician during WWII.
Ronnie Tree was a journalist and a politician.
His knowledge of Berlin helped shaped his understanding of the rise of Nazism. He was one of the early voices calling for Britain to oppose German expansionism in the period leading up to the second world war.
Early Life
Born in Eastbourne in 1897, his full name was Arthur Ronald Lambert Field Tree, but he was widely known as Ronnie.
Born into a wealthy family, Tree was educated at Winchester College in England.
In the 1920s, he lived in New York. Initially working as a journalist, he edited Forum Magazine from 1922. He then moved into the world of investment, working on the New York Stock Exchange from 1926.
In 1927, Tree returned to England with his wife, Nancy. They subsequently had three children.
Politics
In 1933, Tree was elected Member of Parliament for Harborough in Leicestershire.
Tree was among a small group of parliamentarians who saw the rising Nazi party in Germany as a threat to Britain. This group was known as the "Glamour boys" because they were known to have sex with men. It was widely known that Tree was bisexual.
In February 1938, after Anthony Eden resigned as foreign secretary from Neville Chamberlain's government over the conduct of foreign policy, Tree aligned himself with Eden.
During World War II, Winston Churchill gave Tree a job in the Ministry of Information.
After Politics
Tree left Parliament when, in the election in 1945 at the end of the war, he was defeated by the Labour candidate for Harborough.
In 1947, Tree married Marietta Peabody FitzGerald. They had one child.
The family moved to New York City.
Marietta became heavily involved in politics and the couple effectively separated and Tree spent most of his time at his residence in Barbados.
Tree died in 1976.
