Les Lee

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).

This article is about the Australian rules footballer. For the recording artist, see Taylor Dayne.

Les Lee
Personal information
Full name Edward Leslie Barnes Cooper,
known as Leslie Edward Lee
Date of birth (1894-11-21)21 November 1894
Place of birth Parkside, South Australia[1]
Date of death 8 June 1917(1917-06-08) (aged 22)
Place of death Messines, Belgium
Playing career1
Years Club Games (Goals)
1913 Richmond 2 (0)
1 Playing statistics correct to the end of 1913.
Sources: AFL Tables, AustralianFootball.com

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
The Third Australian Divisional Team.
Les Lee is the fourth player from the left in the back row.

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][14][15] Lee played for the Third Australian Divisional Team, kicking one of the team's six goals.[16][17]

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."[18]

Military service

Having undergone several operations to correct and straighten (otherwise excluding conditions) several toes and remove varicose veins,[19] Lee enlisted in the First AIF and served overseas in the 10th Australian Machine Gun Company.

Death

Originally reported wounded and missing in action,[20][21] he was killed in action on 8 June 1917.[22]

He has no known grave, and is commemorated at the Menin Gate Memorial to the Missing, in Ypres, Belgium.[23][24][25]

See also

Footnotes
  1. Roll of Honour Circular: Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), collection of the Australian War Memorial — note that the information was supplied by his mother.
  2. Marriages: Roberts—Barnes, The Age, (Tuesday, 20 December 1910), p.1.
  3. 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. Football, The Age, (Friday, 7 May 1915), p,11.
  9. 'Old Boy', "Football: Notes and Comments", The Argus, (Friday, 14 May 1915), p.10.
  10. Association: Williamstown v. Hawthorn, The Herald, (Saturday, 15 May 1915), p.3.
  11. 'Boundary', "Football: Williamstown v. Hawthorn", The Williamstown Advertiser, (Saturday, 22 May 1915), p.3.
  12. 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. 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. Australian Football (Pathé Newsreel, 1916) on YouTube
  15. Australian Football (Pathé Newsreel, 1916), remastered and colourised version (2019) on YouTube
  16. 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.
  17. Under The Union Jack, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 23 December 1916), p.3.
  18. 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.
  19. Under the Union Jack, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 27 May 1916), p.2.
  20. Men: Private Leslie Lee, The Graphic of Australia, (Friday, 30 November 1917), p.22.
  21. Australian Casualties: List No.332: Victoria: Missing: "L. H. (sic) Lee, Richmond (w<ounded>)", The Argus, (Thursday, 23 August 1917), p.6.
  22. Victorian Casualties: List No.384: Killed in Action: "Lee, L.E., Richmond, 8/6/17", The Argus, (Tuesday, 26 February 1918), p.6.
  23. Bereavements: Lee, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 20 April 1918), p.2.
  24. In Memoriam: Lee, The Richmond Guardian, (Saturday, 8 June 1918), p.2.
  25. Private Leslie Edward Lee (224), Commonwealth War Graves Commission.

Sources


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