LIEUTENANT ARTHUR BASIL LEE. 5TH BATTALION WEST YORKSHIRE REGIMENT. KILLED IN ACTION 2ND JULY 1916.



Arthur Basil Lee was born in New Brighton, Cheshire in 1896. His father worked for the Bank of Liverpool and moved to Ilkley to manage the branch in the town. The family lived at 1 Wells Walk and Arthur, their only son, was educated at Ghyll Royd School and Ilkley Grammar. After leaving school he worked for stuff merchants Sutherland, Parker and Co in Bradford and also played rugby for Ilkley RUFC. He was also a member of the Territorial Army serving with the Ilkley and Otley Battery of the Royal Field Artillery. Arthur was commissioned into the 5th West Yorkshire Regiment and served with them in the Somme area. His battalion was not initially involved in the attacks on the 1st July 1916 but his company was sent to support an attack on a feature known as the Schwaben Redoubt. This was a German fortification near to Thiepval which, because of its shape, was nicknamed 'The Popes Nose' by protestant Irish soldiers. Arthur's platoon reached a German trench and remained there overnight. The following morning,as he was leading his platoon along a trench, a German officer emerged from a dugout and shot Arthur, fatally wounding him His company commander wrote to his grieving parents saying that their only son had died painlessly, instantaneously and nobly. Arthur Basil Lee has no known grave and is commemorated on the Thiepval Memorial to the missing and remembered on Ilkley War Memorial. His name is also on the rolls of honour at Ilkley Rugby Club and Yorkshire Rugby Union. His grieving parents placed a brass memorial plaque in All saints parish Church in memory of their only son


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