3/10006 Sgt John Lee, 2nd Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment)

-


Arrived overseas: 26 August 1914.

Connection: PoW postcards.

3/10006 Sergeant John Thomas Lee of the 2nd Duke of Wellington's (West Riding Regiment), could never have imagined, in all probability, that he would end up in a German prisoner of war camp. Born on the 29th October 1876 he had already served for 12 years with the West Riding Regiment, joining the regiment on the 20th November 1895 and seeing service with it in Malta and India. Completing his 12 years' service in 1907, he then re-engaged for a further four years as a Section D reservist. This took him up to the 24th June 1912 at which point he decided that he would join the Special Reserve. Nine days later he duly did so, signing up for six years' home service, albeit with the obligation to serve with the regular battalions if called upon to do so.

That call up in 1914 must have been almost immediate because by the 26th August, John Lee was in France as part of a draft for the 2nd Battalion, serving with it until reported missing on the 11th November 1914. Wounded by shrapnel in his right leg, he was captured and sent initially to a hospital in Koln, and thereafter to a succession of camps in Germany before being repatriated in November 1918.

These two undated photographs were taken when Sergeant Lee was being held at Minden camp in Germany. Advertised as separate lots and sold weeks apart on eBay, I count myself fortunate to have kept these two photographs together after the passage of close to 110 years.

Popular posts from this blog

54571 Gnr Edward William Brown OR Milward, IV Bde, RFA

-
Image
Arrived Overseas: 14 October 1914. Connection: Victory Medal. Years ago I swore I'd never buy a single medal that had been disunited from its group. But I was young[er] and foolish then, and have since bought hundreds of single medals, and even re-united a couple. For those starting out on their medal collecting hobby, and even for grizzled old hoarders like me, the Victory Medal from the 1914-1918 War can offer hours of researching pleasure for a very modest investment and, besides which, like all British designed medals - and perhaps some from other countries too - it's an object of aesthetic beauty. This particular Victory Medal, which cost me £28 in March 2022, was once owned and earned by 54571 Gunner Edward Brown of the Royal Field Artillery. He'd joined the regiment on the 20th January 1909 under his real name of Milward, deserted in 1910, and then almost immediately re-joined under the alias of Brown. He served overseas with IV Bde RFA in the 7th (Meerut) Division f...
Read more

4966 L/Cpl Richard Edward Worrall MM, 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards

-
Image
Arrived overseas: 31 Oct 1914. Connection: Interview in January 1982. Richard Edward Worrall, better known to his friends as 'Alf' or 'Bumble' ended the First World War as a sergeant, but he was a lance-corporal when he set foot ashore in France on the 31st October 1914. He was a Chelsea Pensioner when I interviewed him, and I note that on that cold January day there was a seventy-year age gap between interviewer and interviewee. He said "On August 4th 1914 until 24th August 1914, an army of 75,000 men, with all their equipment: guns etc, were shipped from England over to Belgium and they actually started fighting on the 22nd August 1914.  That was when the first shot was fired and that shot was fired by the big drummer of my regiment. Up at Mons, Jerry had got there with [160,000] men and he had got everything right up in the front; big guns and everything. "As British soldiers there was one God that we had and that was the Sam Browne belt which was worn ...
Read more

11355 Pte John Jarvis Brunt, Coldstream Guards

-
Image
  Arrived Overseas: 22 December 1914. Connection: Memorial scroll, photo, grave photo. John Jarvis Brunt enlisted with the Coldstream Guards on the 2nd September 1914 and by the 22nd December that year he was disembarking in France. He served with the regiment until commissioned on the 31st July 1917 when he joined the Royal Inniskilling Fusiliers. He served with the 12th Battalion but was attached to the 10th Battalion when he was reported missing in action on the 24th March 1918. Later confirmed as killed in action on that date, he was buried in Villers Bretonneux Military Cemetery (XVI B 1). John Brunt was the son of Mr and Mrs James Brunt of 47 Rockley Road, Hillsborough, Sheffield and was 29 years old at the time of his death. His memorial scroll, portrait photo taken in Sheffield, and grave photo have been framed together and hung in the Historic Records office.
Read more