Private Sydney Lee (36719)- 2nd Battalion Worcestershire Regiment
Died of wounds on the 18th February 1917
Buried at the BRAY MILITARY CEMETERY, France - grave II. C. 56.
photo submitted by Pete Thomas (great grand nephew)
The Lees were a large farming family who lived for many years at Brookhill Farm, Ladywood, near Droitwich.
The brothers who went into the bakery business had their premises in the row of shops opposite the former Spreckleys Brewery in Barbourne Road, Worcester.
The following handwritten letter from a "Surgical Specialist," Bowstead Wilson, and was dispatched to Sydney's mother, Mrs. Emily Lee, from a casualty clearing station on the Western Front in March, 1917:
"Your son was badly wounded in the legs and side during an attack by the Worcesters and was brought in here late at night. He was perfectly conscious and able to tell me how he came to be wounded. He seemed to be suffering no pain at all and was in good spirits. However, he was in too serious a condition to start an operation at the time but I hoped he would be feeling stronger the next morning. Unfortunately he did not rally and passed peacefully away in his sleep the following evening. Your son was buried the text morning in the military cemetery close to the hospital and his grave is marked by a wooden cross with his name, regiment and date of death on it."
Note: The letter suggests that its author also came from the Worcester area — no doubt, a relative of the late Canon Bowstead Wilson, who was a vicar of several parishes in Worcester and the county during a very long life.