Pte. Herbert Cecil Lee, Civil Service Rifles.

British War Medal 1914 - 20.
4915 Pte. H. C. Lee, 15th London Regiment (Civil Service Rifles).

Herbert Cecil Lee, the son of Albert and Amelia Lee, was born on 24th August 1892 in Pinxton, Derbyshire, and baptised there three weeks later on 15th September. Within a year, the family had left Derbyshire and are recorded on the 1901 Census as residing at 50 Alberta Street, Penton Place, Newington, London, where they would live for the next 20 years. The 1911 Census lists Albert, a 47-year-old manager at Gallaher Ltd, a tobacco manufacturers at 67 Clerkenwell Road, his wife Amelia (50 yrs) and their five children, Herbert Cecil, a laboratory assistant (18 yrs), Percy Robert, a commercial clerk (17 yrs), Leslie Horace (15 yrs), Sidney Lawrence (14 yrs) and Ivy Muriel (8 yrs).

When war broke out in August 1914, Herbert was working for Evans Sons, Lescher & Webb Ltd, a manufacturer and supplier of pharmaceutical products for both humans and animals. Their London premises were located at 60 Bartholomew Close, London EC1, and are pictured below.

On 17th September 1914, the Lee family’s third son, Leslie Horace Lee, a 19-year-old insurance clerk, joined the 24th London Regiment and embarked for France on 15th March 1915. His experience of army life may not have been a particularly happy one as he was awarded 14 days Field Punishment No: 1 in May for neglect of duty. Soon after he suffered a gunshot wound to the foot, which necessitated his return to England. Leslie returned to France in June 1916 and was again wounded at Messines on 7th June 1917, this time suffering a gunshot wound to his right hand. He served the rest of the war in the Army Pay Corps. 

On 29th November 1915, Henry Cecil and Percy Robert Lee followed the example of their younger brother and joined up, attesting for service in the 15th London Regiment for the duration of the war. Herbert’s surviving Attestation Papers state that he was 23 years 3 months old, almost 5’ 6” tall, and of fair physical development. He also signed army form E.624 affirming his willingness "to serve in any place outside the United Kingdom." Herbert's first service number was 4915 while his brother Percy, the next in line, was given 4916.

After a period of basic training, the two brothers found themselves embarking at Southampton on 5th May 1916 and on their way to the Western Front. On 29th May, they finally joined the 1/15th London Regiment at Calonne Ricouart, where the Battalion was refitting and cleaning up after having some intense fighting repelling a German attack on the Vimy Ridge the previous week. In September, Percy Lee was sent back to England suffering from trench fever and was perhaps fortunate to miss the attack on High Wood on 15th September. Later in the war, Percy was posted to the 2/15th London Regiment. On his way to join his unit in Palestine, he was drowned at sea when HMT Aragon was torpedoed by a German U-boat outside the port of Alexandria on 30th December 1917. Herbert Lee most probably took part in the attacks on High Wood and the Butte de Warlencourt during the last phase of the Battle of the Somme but in October 1916, he too was on his way back to England, where he would spend a month in hospital.

On 24th February 1917, Herbert again embarked at Southampton for a return to the Western Front. Landing at Le Havre the following day, he was first posted to the 1st Entrenching Battalion before eventually rejoining the 1/15th Londons on 25th June. On 11th November 1917, Herbert was wounded in the face by the accidental detonation of a grenade. A note in his Service Papers records: “The man was on a working party filling in a cable trench. Apparently one of the party struck a Mills grenade buried in the ground and exploded it. The accident happened at about 7pm.”

The incident merited a mention in the 1/15th Londons’ War Diary and a subsequent inquiry into the “accidental wounding of Ptes Lee & Gale” took evidence from two witnesses.

531630 L.Cpl. Frederick Ralph Stent stated: “On night of 11/12th inst, I was in charge of party of 6 men working on pipe line leading from NAVAL TRENCH to GAVRELLE. ARRAS Rd. Ptes LEE & GALE were picking & shovelling on chalky ground to fill in cable trench. I heard an explosion resembling that of a MILLS No 5 bomb and the two men shouted out that they were hit. I was within 10 yds of the men when the accident occurred.”

533079 Pte. Victor Cleaver gave a similar account: “On night 11/12th inst, I was one of the party working on the cable trench from NAVAL TRENCH to ARRAS-GAVRELLE Rd. I was working near the NAVAL TRENCH end about 5 yds from Ptes LEE & GALE. They were picking the chalk and filling in the trench. I heard an explosion and the two men in question shouted out that they were hit.” Herbert was taken to the 42nd Casualty Clearing Station but his wounds proved to be slight and he was able to rejoin the Battalion a month later. On 13th January 1918, he was given 14 days leave to England.

On the evening of 19th March 1918, the 1/15th Londons took over a support line trench called Lincoln Reserve on Beaucamp Ridge near Villers Plouich and were expecting a quiet spell of routine trench warfare. However, an intense bombardment by the Germans on the morning of 21st March convinced them that an attack was imminent. In the confused fighting of the next few days, the Battalion was forced to withdraw and Herbert Lee was one of the many British soldiers taken prisoner by the advancing Germans. He was reported missing on 22nd March and would spend the remaining months of the war in a German prison camp at Metz.

In December 1918, Herbert was repatriated to England and on 27th February 1919, having served a total of 3 years and 91 days, he was discharged from the army. On 19th April, he married Francis Louisa Hewlett at the Parish Church of St Mary in Newington. The 1921 Census records the couple living at 26 Cavour Street, the next street down from Alberta Street, where the rest of the Lee family were still living. At this time, Herbert was again working as a bookkeeper for Evans Sons, Lescher & Webb but in 1922 found a new position with Gallaher Ltd, the tobacco manufacturer where his father worked. 

In the last part of his life, Herbert Cecil Lee was living at 15 Blakenham Road, Upper Tooting, SW17. He died at Brompton Hospital, Chelsea, on 16th March 1955, his effects being valued at £2,665 10s. 9d. and left to his second wife, Constance Ada Lee.