George Lee (Australian general)

Lieutenant General George Leonard Lee, CMG, DSO (25 June 1860 – 13 April 1939) was a senior officer in the early Australian Military Forces. While working as a storekeeper, Lee joined the New South Wales Lancers in 1889. He was commissioned into the New South Wales Permanent Forces in 1892, was commandant of the Cavalry School of Instruction from 1895 to 1897, and commanded a contingent from the New South Wales Lancers in South Africa during the Second Boer War. He led the Lancers in some 30 engagements between January and October 1900 and was awarded the Distinguished Service Order and Mentioned in Despatches for his leadership. Shortly after his return to Australia, Lee joined the Australian Military Forces following the Federation of Australia in 1901 and, over the next decade, served in increasingly senior positions in the Administrative and Instructional Staff Corps. He was commandant of military forces in the states of Tasmania (1911–12), Queensland (1912–17) and New South Wales (1917–20), before retiring as an honorary lieutenant general in 1920.

George Leonard Lee was born on 25 June 1860 in West Maitland, New South Wales, to Mary Ann (née Eckford) and John Lee. He was educated at Sauchu House School in West Maitland and Armidale Grammar School, after which he worked for his father's general store, John Lee & Company, in West Maitland.^[1][2] He was a partner in the business by 1883.^[3][4]

Lee married Emma Onus Town at St Ann's Anglican Church in Homebush, New South Wales, on 2 January 1896. The couple had no children.^[1]

Lee joined the Hunter River Troop (Maitland Light Horse) of the New South Wales Lancers, a Volunteer Force unit, as a trooper on 8 July 1889. He was commissioned as a second lieutenant three months later, on 4 October, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1890.^[1][2][5] That August, during the 1890 Australian maritime dispute, Lee was among the volunteer cavalry and mounted riflemen mobilised and enrolled as a special police force in Sydney after more than 28,000 maritime and related workers went on strike in New South Wales and Victoria. Lee was adjutant of the force until the strike ended in November.^[1][2] In April 1891, Lee was sent to the United Kingdom for training with the British Army.^[6] He underwent instruction at the Army Service Corps School, the School of Musketry at Hythe and the Cavalry School in Canterbury, and spent several months attached to the 20th Hussars at Aldershot.^[1][2] During the eighteen-month secondment, he received certificates in equitation, sword and lance exercises, and the theory and practice of musketry, and qualified as an instructor to a cavalry regiment.^[7]

Lee embarked to return to Australia in October 1892 and, while still at sea, was appointed to the New South Wales Permanent Forces as a captain from 19 December.^[1][8][9] He was then posted to Sydney as adjutant of the New South Wales Lancers; a position he held until June 1902.^[1][2] During that time he also served as acting staff officer to the Mounted Brigade from October 1894 to February 1897 and, while temporarily holding the local rank of major, as commandant of the Cavalry School of Instruction from September 1895 to February 1897.^[2][7] In March 1899 a squadron from the Lancers was sent to the United Kingdom for six months of intensive cavalry training. Although subsidised by private benefactors and the Lancers' wealthy colonel, James Burns, the venture was a costly one and Lee declined command of the squadron. The men were instead led by Captain Charles Cox.^[10] Towards the end of their time at Aldershot, the Second Boer War broke out between Britain and the two Boer republics, the South African Republic and Orange Free State, and Cox convinced many of the squadron's men to volunteer for service in South Africa.^[11][12] The New South Wales government agreed to send the Lancers and Burns selected Lee—described by historian Craig Wilcox as "a stolid soldier and a professional one"—to command the contingent.^[13]

Lee, promoted to the temporary rank of major,^[14] embarked from Sydney with a draft of 5 officers, 36 men and 160 horses on 28 October 1899. By then, Cox had already left Britain with 70 others from the squadron at Aldershot. Cox's understrength squadron landed in Cape Town on 2 November and was attached to the Cavalry Division under Lieutenant General John French, though only took a minor part in operations until Lee arrived on 6 December and assumed command of the squadron.^[2][15][16] The Lancers were largely employed in the defence of Colesberg until February 1900, when the squadron moved to Belmont and, over a period of three days, was part of the Cavalry Division's 120 kilometres (75 mi) advance to relieve the siege of Kimberley.^[15][17] Lee and his men, now attached to the 6th (Inniskilling) Dragoons, were engaged at Paardeberg and, during the advance to Bloemfontein, fought at Poplar Grove and Driefontein. From May, the Lancers were committed to the advance on Pretoria and took part in the engagements at Zand River, Doornkop, around Johannesburg and at Diamond Hill, during which Lee was complimented by French on the performance of his squadron while with the advance guard.^[1][15][18]

The Lancers were granted a reprieve from mid-June 1900 to rest and to resupply with fresh horses,^[18] after which Lee led his men in the Cavalry Division's advance to Middelburg.^[19] The conventional war had largely been won by this point but the Boer commandos and their guerrilla tactics remained a significant adversary,^[20] and so French had the division engage in aggressive patrols around and to the east of Middelburg.^[21] On 26 August, in an attempt to encircle the commandos of Louis Botha, French led the division north towards Bergendal farm. Lee's Lancers saw action nearby at Langkloof and Swartz Kop, but the commandos managed to escape.^[20][22] The squadron took part in its last major operation in October as part of a two-week, 350 kilometres (220 mi) sweep from Machadodorp to Heidelberg by the Cavalry Division. The objective was to clear three districts of armed Boers. According to historian Craig Wilcox, however, "the result was unambiguous failure" as Boer guerrillas continuously "harassed the division ... but rarely presented a target to strike at."^[23] The Lancers themselves came under fire on nine of the fourteen days.^[22] The Cavalry Division was disbanded soon after and the Lancers, with their twelve-month tour at an end, prepared to return to Australia.^[23] Lee embarked aboard the Orient at Cape Town on 13 December and, sailing via Albany, Adelaide and Melbourne, arrived in Sydney on 8 January 1901.^[15][24] The Lancers had taken part in 30 engagements across northern Cape Colony, the Orange Free State and the eastern Transvaal during Lee's command,^[22][25] and suffered two killed and three died of disease.^[26] In recognition of his leadership, Lee was Mentioned in Despatches on 10 September 1901 and awarded the Distinguished Service Order.^[27][28] He was also promoted to substantive major (with seniority from 28 October 1899) and brevet lieutenant colonel.^[29]

• Chadwick, Justin (2017). Sword and Baton: Senior Australian Army Officers from Federation to 2001. Vol. One: 1900 to 1939. Newport, New South Wales: Big Sky Publishing. ISBN 978-1-925520-30-9.
• Murray, P. L. (1911). Official Records of the Australian Military Contingents to the War in South Africa. Melbourne: Government Printer. Retrieved 11 July 2025.
• Vernon, P. V. (1974). "New South Wales Lancers". In Sutton, Ralph (ed.). For Queen and Empire: A Boer War Chronicle. Sydney: New South Wales Military Historical Society. pp. 44–46. ISBN 0-909458-05-7.
• Wilcox, Craig (2002). Australia's Boer War: The War in South Africa, 1899–1902. South Melbourne: Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-551637-0.
• Wilcox, Craig (2014). A Kind of Victory: Captain Charles Cox and His Australian Cavalrymen. Canberra: NLA Publishing. ISBN 978-0-642-27857-9.