Sir Richard Lodowick Edward Montagu Rees, 2nd Baronet (4 April 1900 - 24 July 1970) was a British diplomat, writer and painter.

Rees was the son of Sir John Rees, 1st Baronet

John David Rees

Sir John David Rees, 1st Baronet, KCIE, CVO, MP was a colonial administrator in British India and subsequently a Member of Parliament at Westminster.-Biography:...

 and his wife Mary Catherine Dormer. He was educated at West Downs School

West Downs School

West Downs School, Romsey Road, Winchester, Hampshire, was an English independent preparatory school, which was established in 1897 and closed in 1988.-History:...

, Eton

Eton College

Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....

 and Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College, Cambridge

Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Trinity has more members than any other college in Cambridge or Oxford, with around 700 undergraduates, 430 graduates, and over 170 Fellows...

. His father, who had been an administrator in British India and a Liberal

Liberal Party (UK)

The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...

 politician, died in 1922 and he inherited the baronetcy. He was for a while an attache at the British Embassy in Berlin. In 1925 he became a lecturer at the Worker's Educational Association in London, and also acted as Treasurer there. He became editor of Adelphi

Adelphi (magazine)

The Adelphi or New Adelphi was an English literary journal published between 1923 and 1955.founded by John Middleton Murry. The first issue appeared in June 1922, with issues published monthly thereafter. Between August 1927 and September 1930 it was renamed the New Adelphi and issued quarterly...

in 1930, where he provided encouragement to George Orwell

George Orwell

Eric Arthur Blair , better known by his pen name George Orwell, was an English author and journalist...

 among others.

In the Spanish Civil War

Spanish Civil War

The Spanish Civil WarAlso known as The Crusade among Nationalists, the Fourth Carlist War among Carlists, and The Rebellion or Uprising among Republicans. was a major conflict fought in Spain from 17 July 1936 to 1 April 1939...

 he drove ambulances in Catalonia. During World War II

World War II

World War II, or the Second World War , was a global conflict lasting from 1939 to 1945, involving most of the world's nations—including all of the great powers—eventually forming two opposing military alliances: the Allies and the Axis...

, he served in the Royal Navy, and also in the French Navy where he was awarded the Croix de Guerre

Croix de guerre

The Croix de guerre is a military decoration of France. It was first created in 1915 and consists of a square-cross medal on two crossed swords, hanging from a ribbon with various degree pins. The decoration was awarded during World War I, again in World War II, and in other conflicts...

.

As well as writing several books, he translated the works of Simone Weil

Simone Weil

Simone Weil , was a French philosopher, Christian mystic, and social activist.-Biography:Weil was born in Paris to Alsatian agnostic Jewish parents who fled the annexation of Alsace-Lorraine to Germany. She grew up in comfortable circumstances, and her father was a doctor. Her only sibling was...

 and was the literary executor of George Orwell and R. H. Tawney

R. H. Tawney

Richard Henry Tawney was an English economic historian, social critic, Christian socialist, and an important proponent of adult education....

. In addition to writing, he was a painter, exhibiting at the Royal Academy

Royal Academy

The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...

.

Publications

• Brave Men: A study of D H Lawrence and Simone Weil (Victor Gollancz, London, 1958)
• For Love or Money (Secker & Warburg, London, 1960)
• George Orwell: Fugitive from the Camp of Victory (Secker & Warburg, London, 1961)
• A Theory of my Time (Secker & Warburg, London, 1963)
• Simone Weil: A Sketch for a Portrait (Oxford University Press, London, 1966)

Edited with (John Middleton Murry

John Middleton Murry

John Middleton Murry was an English writer. He was prolific, producing more than 60 books and thousands of essays and reviews on literature, social issues, politics, and religion during his lifetime...

)

• Selected criticism 1916 to 1957 (Oxford University Press, London, 1960)
• Poets, Critics, Mystics (Feffer & Simons, London & Amsterdam, 1970)

Translations (with Jane Degras)

• Alfred Grosser Western Germany: From defeat to rearmament (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1955)
• Jules Monnerot Sociology of Communism (George Allen & Unwin, London, 1953)
• Simone Weil Selected Essays (Oxford University Press, London, 1962)
• Simone Weil Seventy Letters (Oxford University Press, London, 1965)
• Simone Weil On Science, Necessity, and the Love of God (Oxford University Press, London, 1968)
• Simone Weil First and Last Notebooks (Oxford University Press, London, 1970