Roger Tredwell

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Roger Culver Tredwell (July 1885 – July 12, 1961) was an American diplomat who drew attention after being imprisoned by Bolshevik forces in Russian Central Asia soon after the Russian Revolution. He held postings around the world. In 1914 he worked in Bristol, England; in 1915 he served in Turin and Rome. By 1917 he was in Russia and traveled to Turkestan on a fact‑finding mission, where he was arrested. In 1918 he was sent to Tashkent to study the political and cotton economy there. World War I was still raging, and cotton was important for making munitions; there were fears Germany would seek local supplies in Turkestan.

Tredwell wrote two reports after his travels. He was arrested by the Bolsheviks on October 15, 1918, but was soon released and tried to help free other foreigners. He was later placed under house arrest, and at one point was nearly executed, saved at the last moment by the local police chief. In March 1919 Britain offered to swap Bolshevik prisoners in Persia for Tredwell, but the exchange did not happen. He was moved to Moscow, then Finland, and released in May 1919. On his return he condemned Bolshevik rule and predicted a Russian uprising.

In 1922 he began a three‑year tour as United States Consul General at large for Central Asia and Africa. From 1926 to 1929 he served in Hong Kong, where he married Metta‑Louise Orr in 1929. He moved to Stockholm in the early 1930s. He knew British intelligence officer Frederick Marshman Bailey, and Tredwell is mentioned in Bailey’s Mission to Tashkent. He died in 1961.