Edward Lee

could contain. At five in the morning one who had tasted the love of
God but had afterwards relapsed into his former sins, nay and sunk
into Deism, if not Atheism, was once more cut to the heart’. 1 His brother
Charles Wesley, later described his own impression of what he saw, ‘the
people of Tyrrellspass were wicked to a proverb, swearers, drunkards,
sabbath breakers, thieves from time immemorial. But now the scene is
utterly changed’. 2
Tyrrellspass 1853
Edward Lee was born 27th March 1853, the eldest son of Edward
Lee and Hannah Bagnall, a farming family who lived in the
townland of Cornahir, Tyrrellspass. The other children were
Eliza, Robert, Annie, Joe, Pamela-Harriet, William and Mary, also known
as Molly. The Lees were Wesleyan Methodists and were of modest means,
but not poor. Little is known of Edward’s early life, but it is likely that
he attended the local Protestant school in Newtownlow. He was well
educated, although his later education, if any, is still to be discovered. As
the eldest son, it would have been natural that Edward would work on
the farm alongside his father and the rest of his family, eventually taking
it over. However, this ambitious young man had other plans and began
work as an indentured assistant draper, most likely in Tullamore.
Eventually, in the late 1870s, with £100 he had saved and with
some money, most likely from his mother Hannah Bagnall, Edward left
Westmeath to make his way in the world. But he would hold Tyrrellspass
dear all his life. For many years, Edward Lee was remembered locally
as the young man who went to Dublin and became wealthy. On 25th
July 1878, he married Annie Sheckleton from Dungar Co. Offaly, in the
Methodist Church in Blackrock, Co. Dublin. It is possible that the young
couple had first met in Tullamore where Annie may also have worked.
There is little doubt that Edward’s future success would be due to this
1 The Ninth Part, Section Two (John Wesley’s Irish Tour 1762)
2 Ibid.
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Edward Lee