Item MS 88/9/3 - Photograph of Joseph Lee

Identity area

Reference code

MS 88/9/3

Title

Photograph of Joseph Lee

Date(s)

  • c1940 (Creation)

Level of description

Item

Extent and medium

4 copies and 1 negative

Context area

Name of creator

(1876-1949)

Biographical history

Joseph Johnston Lee was a journalist, poet and artist, best known for his war poetry. Born in Dundee in 1876, he was the grandson of Sergeant David Lee, a veteran of the Napoleonic Wars. At the age 14 Joseph Lee left school and began work in the office of a local solicitor. He found this work to be dull and eventually took a job as a steamship's stoker, making a number of sketches during his voyages. In 1904 he was employed as an artist in London drawing cartoons for the Tariff Reform League, subsequently becoming a newspaper artist. In 1906 he returned to Dundee and started to produce edit, and write for several local periodicals including The City Echo and The Piper O' Dundee. In 1909 he became a member of staff at the firm of John Leng & Co. and was soon regularly contributing poetry to their People's Journal, a publication which he eventually edited. In 1914 he joined the 4th Battalion of the Black Watch. Two books of his war poems and sketches, Ballads of Battle and Work-a-Day Warriors were published while he was at the Front. In 1917 he became a second lieutenant in the 10th Battalion of the King's Royal Rifle Corps and later that year he was captured near Cambrai. His experiences while a prisoner in camps at Karlsruhe and Beeskow are described in his book A Captive at Carlsruhe. In 1924 Lee married Miss Dorothy Barrie, a well-known viola player. The couple went to Epsom and Lee became sub-editor on the News Chronicle. After his retirement in 1944 he returned to Dundee, where he died in 1949. Lee's other published works include poems, Tales O' Our Town, and a short play Fra Lippo Lippi.

Archival history

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Photograph of Joseph Lee holding an open book, probably 1940s

Accruals

Not expected

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Open for consultation subject to preservation requirements. Access must also conform to the restrictions of the Data Protection Act (2018), General Data Protection Regulation (GDPR, 2018) and any other relevant legislation or restrictions. Clinical information is closed for 100 years.

Conditions governing reproduction

Reproduction is available subject to preservation requirements. Charges may be made for this service, and copyright and other restrictions may apply; please check with the Duty Archivist.

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Description control area

Description identifier

MS 88/9/3

Rules and/or conventions used

Description compiled in line with the following standards: International Council on Archives, ISAD(G) General International Standard Archival Description; International Council on Archives, ISAAR(CPF): International Standard Archival Authority Record for Corporate Bodies, Persons, and Families; National Council on Archives, Rules for the Construction of Personal, Place and Corporate Names, 1997

Status

Catalogued

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

  • English

Script(s)

Sources

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