Sapper Henry John Lee

Henry Lee was born at Battersea in London on 18 February 1894. The eldest of three children, Henry worked as an office boy at the London Stock Exchange, together with his younger brother; he was then apprenticed as a fitter to Lester & Perkins Ltd, a shipbuilding and engineering company based at the Royal Albert Dock in London. It is not known when he arrived in Australia.

Lee enlisted in the Australian Imperial Force at Sydney in September 1915 and was attached to the 11th Reinforcements for the 1st Company Field Engineers as a sapper. In November 1915, Lee embarked for Egypt on the troopship Beltana; he was taken on strength in the 1st Field Company Engineers in December 1915. Lee moved with his unit to France in March 1916, and remained in the field until November 1917.

On 25 April 1917 Lee performed in a concert that was staged by his unit in the field, singing a solo “Somewhere a Voice Is Calling”. Lee participated in another concert on 16 May 1917. It was possibly because of his performance at this concert that Lee was detached to the 1st Division Concert Party from 24 November 1917 until he returned to his unit on 2 April 1918. Other than a short period of leave in England, during August 1918, Lee remained in the field with his unit until he transferred to England in January 1919 in preparation for return to Australia.

Lee embarked for Australia on the troopship City of Poona on 28 March 1919. He disembarked at Sydney on on 16 May 1919 and was discharged on 9 July 1919.

After discharge, Lee appears to have worked as a shop assistant for the remainder of his working life. He is recorded in the Australian electoral rolls with the surname of Paine-Lee. Lee married Elsie Muriel Warner, a milliner, at Sydney in 1924 and the couple lived in the Sydney suburb of Burwood. Henry Lee died at Burwood on 14 February 1972 at the age of 77, and his wife died in September 1976.