Herbert John Lee

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Lee, Herbert J

1881, Woking, Surrey

Fanny Lee [BB]

12th Battalion, Rifle Brigade

S.14357

Private

7 October 1916, France, age 35

Thiepval Memorial, pier and faces 16 B and 16 C
   

Biography:
Herbert John Lee was born in Woking, in 1881. He was the illegitimate son of Fanny Elizabeth Lee. He had a brother two years older than him. In 1894, Fanny married George Collyer and they had three more children – all boys.

After he left school, Herbert worked as a general labourer.

Herbert was probably conscripted into the Army following the January 1916 Military Service Act. He served with the 12th Battalion, Rifle Brigade.



Herbert John Lee was killed 7 October 1916, France. His final resting place is unknown. His name, along with others of his regiment, appears on the pier and faces 16B and 16C of the Thiepval Memorial.

The Thiepval Memorial, the Memorial to the Missing of the Somme, bears the names of more than 72,000 officers and men of the United Kingdom and South African forces who died in the Somme sector before 20 March 1918 and have no known grave.

The memorial was built between 1928 and 1932 and unveiled by the Prince of Wales, in the presence of the President of France, on 1 August 1932.