Edward Lee

kind to them, Edward and Annie must have felt that they had prevailed
and that they had been lucky in some ways. They had lost their beloved
Joe, but the other boys had survived. Fate however had one last terrible
twist for the Lee family.
The Sinking Of The
RMS Leinster
On the morning of 10 th October 1918, the RMS Leinster sailed
out of Dún Laoghaire Harbour, on its way to Holyhead. On
board were hundreds of civilians, postal workers, crew and
soldiers. At about 10am, as the ship passed the Kish bank, it was torpedoed
twice by German submarine UB-123 and sank quickly. There was panic
and terror on board and over 500 souls lost their lives that day. According
to Terry de Valera, Robert Ernest managed to board a lifeboat but when
he noticed a woman and her child in distress in the water, he jumped
back in and managed to help them board the lifeboat. Unfortunately in
the panic and confusion, Robert Ernest then drifted away and was lost. 46 It
was a dreadful shock to Edward and Annie when they heard the terrible
news. Edward, in a letter the next day to his son Tennyson in London
wrote, ‘My own dear boy Tennyson, you will have seen no doubt from the
papers the terrible tragedy which occurred to the Mail Boat yesterday. I
fear our very dear and loved son Robert Ernest is no more in this world.
Oh the horror of it, God alone knows the sorrow that we feel. Your loving
and affectionate father, Edward Lee’. 47
‘They died as they lived, bravely and
unselfishly giving inspiration to us allbut
their spirit lives and can never die.’
Also amongst those lost in the sinking were former neighbours of
the Lees in Stillorgan. Lieutenant Sydney Crawford of the Royal Dublin
Fusiliers and his sister Letitia Hill had come home to visit a seriously ill
46 A Memoir by Terry de Valera. Currach Press 2004
47 Letter to Tennyson Lee. 11/10/1918
Model Employer and Man of Moral Courage
53