Ethel was born in Cook County, Illinois in 1873. Her parents were Marshall Field, the founder of the American firm Marshall Field's, and his first wife, Nannie Douglas Scott. She had one full brother, Marshall Field Jr.
Personal life
On January 1, 1891, Ethel married Arthur Magie Tree in an opulent ceremony held at the home of her parents, 1905 Prairie Avenue in Chicago. Arthur was the son of American diplomatLambert Tree and the former Anna Josephine Magie. Together, they were the parents of three children, only one of whom survived to adulthood:
While married to Tree, she had an affair with British captain David Beatty. Ethel wrote to her husband, telling him that it was her firm intention never to live with him again as his wife, though not naming any particular person or reason. Arthur agreed to co-operate, and filed for divorce in America on the grounds of desertion, which was granted 9 May 1901.
Second marriage
Ten days after her divorce from Tree was made public, she was married to Captain Beatty on 22 May 1901 at the registry office, St. George's, Hanover Square in London with no family attending. The couple had two children:
According to Robert K. Massie, Ethel Beatty was a poor mother, abandoning her son Ronald from her first marriage; she also left the children of her second marriage with her husband while she went on a gambling trip to Monte Carlo in 1912. Peter had birth complications that affected his eyesight and muscle control for the rest of his life, thought to originate from a venereal disease carried by Ethel It was "generally accepted" in later years that Peter was illegitimate, the father being a "well-known member of the British aristocracy", according to a Beatty family member. In her obituary, it was noted that "her beauty and personality made her one of England's foremost hostesses. She and her husband often entertained King Edward VII at shooting parties in Scotland." While David Beatty benefited by Ethel's wealth, it was not a happy marriage, "I am the most unhappy man in the world", David once said, "I have paid terribly for my millions". The result of which was his decade-long love affair with Eugénie Godfrey-Faussett, wife of Captain Bryan Godfrey-Faussett. In 1919, David was raised to the peerage when he became the first Earl Beatty, making Ethel Countess Beatty. After a one month illness, Lady Beatty died in her sleep on 17 July 1932 at Dingley Hall in Dingley, Northamptonshire. Lord Beatty died in London on 12 March 1936, and was succeeded in his titles by his eldest son, David.
Descendants
Through her eldest son's two marriages, she was a grandmother of three, Michael Lambert, racehorse trainer Arthur Jeremy Tree, and fashion modelPenelope Tree. Through her second son David, who inherited the earldom, she was a grandmother of four, David Beatty, 3rd Earl Beatty, Lady Diana Beatty, Hon. Nicholas Duncan Beatty, and Lady Miranda Katherine Beatty.
