Name
Lee Lewis (DCM)
Conflict
First World War
Date of Death / Age
12/08/1917
Rank, Service Number & Service Details
Private
71080
Lincolnshire Regiment
1st Bn. Machine Gun Corps 24th Company
Awards: Service Medals/Honour Awards
1914 /15 Star, British War and Victory medals
Distinguished Conduct Medal
Cemetery/Memorial: Name/Reference/Country
BRANDHOEK NEW MILITARY CEMETERY
V. E. 17.
Belgium
Headstone Inscription
Not Researched
UK & Other Memorials
Not on the Sawbridgeworth memorials, Netteswell and Burnt Mill Memorial, Essex
Pre War
Lee’s parents were Lee Lewis Sr. born in Dodleson, Cheshire in c1859 and Matilda Bellis, born in Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales in c1858. They married in Cheshire in 1893 and Lee Lewis was born in Hill Gates, Eastwick (nr Harlow in Essex but in East Hertfordshire) in 1896.
The 1901 census records Lee residing at Hill Gates, Eastwick with his parents and siblings; John, Peter, Ethel, Joseph, Florence and William. Lee (Sr). was working at the local marine engine works. Lee Lewis senior died in Harlow in early 1907 at the age of 48. Matilda died in Harlow in 1910 at the age of 52. The 1911 census shows Lee residing with his siblings John, aged 25, Ethel, aged 21 and William, aged 12 at 14 The Avenue, Burnt Mill, Harlow.
Lee was listed as an apprentice marine engineer. At the time enlisted, in Hertford, he was recorded as a resident of Erith, Kent.
Wartime Service
Lee was formerly Private Lee Lewis, 14861, after enlisting in Hertford on the 5th October 1914 he joined the 7th Bedfordshire Regiment aged 19. His overseas service commenced on 26th July 1915.
He was a ‘Mentioned in Dispatches’ for his role in a trench raid of 27 April 1916. Prior to this, from 2-14 March 1916, he had been in hospital.
On 2 December 1916, Lee Lewis was transferred to the 54th Company, Machine Gun Corps, a ‘heavy section’, part of the 18th Battalion, operating the Vickers machine gun. He was lucky to have a spell of home leave from 28 June-8 July 1917 but was soon back in action.
On 10 August 1917 during an attack on the Gheluvelt Plateau, (part of the Passchendaele offensive), Lee Lewis suffered a shell wound to his abdomen. He died of his wounds 2 days later on 12 August 1917.
For his ‘Conspicuous Gallantry’ that day, Lee Lewis was posthumously awarded the Distinguished Conduct Medal. This being promulgated on 26 January 1918.
Lee Lewis is buried at Brandhoek New Military Cemetery, Belgium. He was aged 21.
The Machine Gun Corps was formed on 14th October 1915 and Private Lewis, 71080 joined The 54th Company of the Machine Gun Corps sometime thereafter. Over 170,500 men joined the company throughout the war with 12,498 of them being killed in action. The company was nicknamed ‘The Suicide Club’.
Additional Information
Recorded as 71980 in SDITGW records.
Acknowledgments
Jonty Wild, Book: Remembering those who sacrificed their lives for us - War memorials and war graves in Harlow, Douglas Coe
