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Friday 21 March 2008

A mystery in Langdale


Even though I have been 'doing' South Lakeland's Great War memorials for some eight years, they continue to turn up in the most unlikely places. An example is this slab of stone stuck in an obscure corner of Busk Wood, Langdale.



Inscribed upon it are the words......

In Loving Memory
Denton Lee
Died of Wounds
1914 - 1918

So who is Denton Lee & why does he have a memorial stone here?

Various easily available online sources show that James Denton Lee died as a 2nd Lieutenant with the 10th Bn Manchester Regiment on January 22, 1918 and is buried in Lister Lane Cemetery, Halifax, Yorkshire. In 1901 he was a resident scholar, aged 11, at the Halifax district orphanage. Beyond that he is at present a complete mystery!

2 comments:

Anonymous said...

My name is Stephanie Lawton. I was the finder and photographer of the Denton Lee memorial, many years ago.
The information plus photographs I sent for the archive, did have my name and address on, so I could be contacted regarding the finding of the information on James.

Louis said...

Stephanie! Thanks for the post. I am uncertain of which archive you speak. I was emailed these pictures by a resident of Langdale some 8 years or so ago. I presumed they had taken them.I apolpogise if I appear to have ignored your input.

If you email me @ stublick(at)tiscali.co.uk I will forward all I know on Denton Lee. As you will gather it is an interesting story.