Rennell Rodd (1858 - 1941)

James Rennell Rodd, 1st Baron Rennell GCB GCMG GCVO PC (9 November 1858 – 26 July 1941), known as Sir Rennell Rodd before 1933, was a British diplomat, poet and politician. He served as British Ambassador to Italy during the First World War. Rodd was the only son of Major James Rennell Rodd (1812–1892) and his wife Elizabeth Anne Thomson, daughter of Anthony Todd Thomson. On his father's side he descended from the geographer James Rennell. Rodd was educated at Haileybury and Balliol College, Oxford, where he was associated with the circle of Oscar Wilde. Wilde later assisted Rodd in securing publication for his first book of verse, Rose Leaf and Apple Leaf, for which Wilde provided an introduction. As Wilde began to court scandal in his public career, their friendship subsequently cooled.