Les Lee Explained

Les Lee
Fullname:	Edward Leslie Barnes Cooper, known as Leslie Edward Lee
Birth Date:	21 November 1894
Birth Place:	Parkside, South Australia^[1]
Death Place:	Messines, Belgium
Guernsey:	12
Statsend:	1913
Years1:	1913
Games Goals1:	2 (0)
Careerhighlights:	AIF Pioneer Exhibition Game, London, 28 October 1916

Leslie Edward "Leggo" Lee (21 November 1894 – 8 June 1917) was an Australian rules footballer from South Australia who played with Richmond in the Victorian Football League (VFL) and with Williamstown in the Victorian Football Association (VFA).

He played in the famous services match in London, but was killed whilst serving in Belgium during World War I.

Family

The son of Isabella Turner Barnes (1862-1948), later Mrs. Arthur James Roberts,^{[2] [3]} Edward Leslie Barnes Cooper, known as Leslie Edward Lee, was born at Parkside, South Australia on 21 November 1894.^{[4] [5] [6]}

Football

Richmond (VFL)

At 18 years of age, he played for Richmond in the last two games of the 1913 season: against Melbourne on 23 August 1913, and against University on 30 August 1913.

Balmain (RDJFA)

In 1914 he played with the Balmain Football Club, one of the association's foundation clubs (in 1913), in the Richmond District Junior Football Association.^[7]

Williamstown (VFA)

Although he was training with Richmond in early May 1915,^[8] he was cleared from Richmond to Williamstown Football Club in the Victorian Football Association (VFA) on 12 May 1915,^[9] and played the first of his 12 matches with Williamstown, against Hawthorn on 15 May 1915.^{[10] [11]} His last match was in the Second Semi-Final, against North Melbourne, on 31 July 1915.

"Pioneer Exhibition Game" (London, 28 October 1916)

On Saturday 28 October 1916, Lee participated in an Australian Rules football match – the "Pioneer Exhibition Game of Australian Football in London"^[12] – between two teams of Australian servicemen, the Australian Training Units and The Third Australian Divisional Team, conducted in aid of the British and French Red Cross, at Queen's Club, West Kensington.^[13] Lee played for the Third Australian Divisional Team, kicking one of the team's six goals.^{[14] [15]}

Twenty years later, the team's vice-captain, the former Collingwood footballer, Dan Minogue, who would go on to play for, and captain, Richmond after the war, noting that Lee "marked magnificently", recalled that the comparatively unknown (having only played two VFL games, and only 21 years of age) Lee's performance in that game was outstanding:

"The star of that unforgettable match in London 21 years ago was young [Les] Lee. the unknown Richmond lad. He was only a boy, but he was of the Jack Dyer build and spirit. And could he play! He was a champion in the ruck that day of days. Unfortunately, he was killed in action later."^[16]

Military service

Having undergone several operations to correct and straighten (otherwise excluding conditions) several toes and remove varicose veins,^[17] Lee enlisted in the First AIF and served overseas in the 10th Australian Machine Gun Company.

Death

Originally reported wounded and missing in action,^{[18] [19]} he was killed in action on 8 June 1917.^[20]

He has no known grave, and is commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, in Ypres, Belgium.^{[21] [22] [23]}

See also

• List of Victorian Football League players who died on active service
• 1916 Pioneer Exhibition Game

Sources

• Hogan P: The Tigers of Old, Richmond FC, (Melbourne), 1996.
• Holmesby, Russell & Main, Jim (2007). The Encyclopedia of AFL Footballers. 7th ed. Melbourne: Bas Publishing.
• Main, J. & Allen, D., "Lee, Leslie", pp. 101–105 in Main, J. & Allen, D., Fallen – The Ultimate Heroes: Footballers Who Never Returned From War, Crown Content, (Melbourne), 2002.
• Richardson, Nick, The Game of Their Lives, Pan Macmillan, (Sydney), 2016.
• Australia's Roll of Honor: 384th Casualty List: Victoria: Killed in Action: "Lee, L. E., Richmond", The Age, (Tuesday, 26 February 1918), p.8.
• First World War Embarkation Roll: Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), collection of the Australian War Memorial.
• First World War Nominal Roll: Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), collection of the Australian War Memorial.
• First World War Service Record: Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), National Archives of Australia.
• Australian Red Cross Society Wounded and Missing Enquiry Bureau files, 1914-18 War: 1DRL/0428: 224 Private Leslie Edward Lee, collection of the Australian War Memorial.
• Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), Commonwealth War Graves Commission.
• Roll of Honour: Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), Australian War Memorial.

External links

• • • L. E. Lee, at The VFA Project.

Notes and References

1. https://s3-ap-southeast-2.amazonaws.com/awm-media/collection/RCDIG1068878/document/5576939.PDF Roll of Honour Circular: Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), collection of the Australian War Memorial
2. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article179911403 Marriages: Roberts—Barnes, The Age, (Tuesday, 20 December 1910), p.1.
3. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article22679330 Deaths: Roberts, (Monday, 5 July 1948), p.8.
4. His father was Edward Cooper. Edward Cooper and Isabella Barnes never married; and, according to Richardson (2016), as a child growing up in Richmond, Les Lee thought that his mother, Isabella, was his aunt.
5. His service record has a hand-written (undated, but posthumous) note recording (i) that Lee's War Gratuity was paid to "Isabella Turner Roberts (Mother) 16 Hope St Sth Yarra", and (ii) that, in relation to the issue of whether his biological father was living, according to Lee's War Gratuity file, "Mother states deserted by father in 1894. [Current] whereabouts unknown."
6. According to the detailed correspondence conducted by his mother, Isabella Turner Roberts, after his death (contained in his World War One service record), the "George Lee" given as his father on his enlistment was not his father. "George Lee" was the husband of his mother's sister (Mrs. Eliza Lee) — his mother had "boarded [him] out" with the Lee family "for 4 years when a little child". From the Lee household he then went to live with another of his mother's sisters (Mrs. Anne Simcock), "from whose house he left to go into camp [on] May 27th 1916". His mother was quite clear that, on the basis that he had lived with the Lee family for a time, she had "allowed him to take the name of Lee", and that "he always kept it". His mother had always supported him financially when he was living with her sisters and continued to do so "until he was able to keep himself". His mother also notes that he was not comfortable with his stepfather and preferred to live with the Simcock family.
7. Hogan (1996), p.123.
8. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154959252 Football, The Age, (Friday, 7 May 1915), p,11.
9. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1516743 'Old Boy', "Football: Notes and Comments", The Argus, (Friday, 14 May 1915), p.10.
10. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242352301 Association: Williamstown v. Hawthorn, The Herald, (Saturday, 15 May 1915), p.3.
11. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article87750138 'Boundary', "Football: Williamstown v. Hawthorn", The Williamstown Advertiser, (Saturday, 22 May 1915), p.3.
12. http://purl.slwa.wa.gov.au/slwa_b1874692_13.pdf?agree Pioneer Exhibition Game Australian Football: in aid of British and French Red Cross Societies: 3rd Australian Division v. Australian Training Units at Queen's Club, West Kensington, on Saturday, October 28th, 1916, at 3pm, Wightman & Co., (London), 1919.
13. https://www.afl.com.au/news/72200/october-1916-london-why-soldiers-played-australian-footy-in-a-time-of-crisis Collins, Ben, "October, 1916, London: Why soldiers played Australian footy in a time of crisis: New colourised footage sheds light on toughest exhibition game", afl.com.au, 16 August 2019.
14. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article154553906 Brosnan, G., "Australian Football at Queen's Club, London; Exhibition Game by Anzacs Draws Large Crowd", The (Melbourne) Winner, *Wednesday, 20 December 1916), p.7.
15. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article254636457 Under The Union Jack, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 23 December 1916), p.3.
16. https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/page/20729032 Minogue, D. & Millard, P.J., "Famous A.I.F. Match in London: Unknown Richmond Lad was a Star", The Sporting Globe, (Saturday, 21 August 1937), p.8.
17. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article254634021 Under the Union Jack, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 27 May 1916), p.2.
18. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-page17884487 Men: Private Leslie Lee, The Graphic of Australia, (Friday, 30 November 1917), p.22.
19. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1644747 Australian Casualties: List No.332: Victoria: Missing: "L. H. (sic) Lee, Richmond (w)", The Argus, (Thursday, 23 August 1917), p.6.
20. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article1642162 Victorian Casualties: List No.384: Killed in Action: "Lee, L.E., Richmond, 8/6/17", The Argus, (Tuesday, 26 February 1918), p.6.
21. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93807440 Bereavements: Lee, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 20 April 1918), p.2.
22. http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article93813773 In Memoriam: Lee, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 8 June 1918), p.2.
23. https://www.cwgc.org/find-records/find-war-dead/casualty-details/1599095 Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), Commonwealth War Graves Commission.