Who would have thought I’d choose a pugilist, a boxer, to write about - boxing is such an anathema to me! However, the person I’ve chosen, Scottish boxing champion James ‘Tancy’ Lee (1882-1941) continues to be identified as a family hero during family history contacts. When I first made contact with Bill Tully, a younger first cousin of my decades deceased father, he asked “Have you come across ‘Tancy’ Lee in your research?” Bill, born in 1928 in Leith, had known Tancy and shared stories of him with me. A Sydneysider Lee descendant, contacting me through ancestry, also highlighted the connection with Tancy Lee, sending me a photograph he had come across in going through old photographs in his mother’s collection. Just in the last month I’ve been contacted by someone who shares my Lee great, great grandparents, who introduced herself asking ‘have you heard of Tancy Lee? I’m his great granddaughter…. ‘ James ‘Tancy’ Lee (1882 – 1941), a first cousin of my grandfather, James Lee, also born in 1882, was the first Scot to be an outright winner of the Lonsdale Belt, the oldest championship event in boxing. Tancy's Lonsdale belt 9ct gold enamel sold at auction for 19000 UK pounds in 2005. Inducted into the Scottish Boxing Hall of Fame in 2008, the highs during Tancy’s boxing career were substantial – he not only won the Lonsdale belt, according to thefightcity.com… “his stoppage of the legendary Jimmy Wilde in round 17 led to him taking the British, European and world flyweight titles, …he also holds wins over Charlie Hardcastle, Danny Morgan and Young Joe Brooks and won European and Lonsdale titles at featherweight.” A Google search includes many entries for Tancy, including a Wikipedia entry which provides a detailed list of his achievements.
Tancy also trained and mentored the sons of his sister Ellen Lee, who became Olympic medal winners for boxing - George McKenzie (bronze bantamweight medal, Antwerp Olympics 1920) and James McKenzie (silver flyweight medal, Paris Olympics, 1924). A memorable film of Tancy training others in 1924 can be found on in the British Pathe film archives…. https://www.britishpathe.com/video/tancey-lee-aka-tancy-lee/query/belts The swings and round abouts in Tancy’s boxing career can be found in many reports on the internet. Tancy also experienced swings and roundabouts in his personal life. His father, James Lee, died of tuberculosis in 1891, when Tancy was nine years old. His first wife, Jeannie, mother of his six children died of Spanish Influenza aged 28 in 1918. Two of their six children died in infancy, and very sadly, Tancy was tragically killed when hit by a bus in Edinburgh in 1941, aged 59. Tancy may have been a ‘bit of a villain’! Enlisted as a ‘boy’ soldier in the Royal Scots, at age 15/16 he appears to have ‘gone AWOL’ on the 12th June 1899, resulting in a listing in the UK Military Deserters records on ancestry.com, a record which will forever haunt his family historians. I suspect that, being small at 5’2” and having lost his father at 9 yrs, Tancy may have been drawn to, his uncles may have encouraged him to, learn to box in order to protect himself. Irish Catholic families and community in Leith appeared to work together to raise their young people—there are many examples of this having happened to young family members in his generation of the Lee family. The boxing community in Leith, in particular Tancy’s role as trainer and mentor, would also have provided role modelling and structure for his Olympic boxing medal winning nephews George and James McKenzie, whose mother Ellen Lee died when they were children. Tancy was tiny, courageous and appears to have been a loving father and uncle who contributed to the welfare of his community. He participated in a sport renowned for risk taking and drama and seemed to have survived this over an extended period of time. A family and local hero, he does appear to have been a ‘national living treasure’ in Scotland. The tradition of boxing has not been handed down to my generation, though my brother John drily commented when I asked him, that our father did try to get him to take lessons, to no avail. Bill Tully also said it did not appeal to him, despite efforts to get him to learn boxing in Leith as a child. Initially I thought Tancy may have meant ‘tiny’ as in ‘teensy’…. but apparently it can mean ‘Immortal’. Perhaps, Tancy having made it into the Scottish Boxing Hall of Fame, Pathe Film Archives and Wikipedia symbolizes immortality in some way! Beverley Lee November 2022 Tancy Lee Entry in Wikipedia - https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Tancy_Lee Pathe Film Archives https://www.britishpathe.com/video/tancey-lee-aka-tancy-lee/query/belts 'Tancy Lee - The Famous Scot' - The Referee (Australian paper) - includes a poem - https://trove.nla.gov.au/newspaper/article/129355032 I met my paternal grandfather, 'Grandpa Lee' in late 1951/2 when I was four five years old. Memories of meeting him, his capacity for comforting hugs and the delightful way he called me 'happy face' remain, captured in a bubble surrounded by an aura of light and happiness in my brain. A widower for seven years when we visited, James Joseph Lee lived in a flat in an historic building in Manly, not far from the harbourside beach where the ferries berth and depart. He died in 1957. I remember my father preparing to go to Sydney for his funeral, returning saddened with memorabilia, including a watch inscribed JL, and his war medals, of which I now have the miniatures which my grandmother probably wore at Anzac Time. I knew that he had been a printer, had run printing businesses in Sydney and Lismore, NSW; that he had lost these businesses during the Great Depression after holding on to his staff for as long as he could. I also knew that he had grown up and married In Leith, the port city adjoining Edinburgh, In Scotland where my father was born. I believed that my ancestors on the Lee side were Scottish. That was about it! I didn't know his parent's names, whether he had any brothers and sisters. His early live and 'family of origin' were a mystery to me. Where to begin? BMD (Birth, Marriages and Deaths) documents retrieved online from Scotland's People proved invaluable, The Birth Certificate for my father, confirmed his birth to James Lee and Rose McCann in Leith in 1904. A breakthrough came with the Marriage Certificate of James and Rose, as it listed their parents. Suddenly I had the names of Grandpa Lee's parents - Anthony Lee and Barbara Sullivan. I knew about 'Lee', fancy being a 'Sullivan'! I was thrilled to find that my father was named after his grandfather, also an Anthony Lee, and then on finding my great grandparent's wedding certificate, found that I had Irish great, great grandparents Michael Lee and Margaret Reilly! A UK Census Record for Scotland from 1871 revealed my Great Grandfather Anthony Lee, was, along with brothers and sisters, born in Ireland of an Irish father and mother. What a wonderful resource! Later discovered Catholic Church Baptismal Records from Kilronanan County Roscommon, confirmed his grandparents, but also his aunts and uncles, with all names this time recorded in Latin. 'Michaelem Lee married Marguerita Reilly, and had children Eleonaram (Ellen), Mariam (Maria), James, Antonium (Anthony), John (Joannem) and Michael (Michaelem), before leaving Ireland, having a daughter Margaret, in Scotland. Margaret died as a child, however her birth and death records, falling after the Scottish documentation was more formally registered in 1855, resulting in even greater clarity in some of the details, including the knowledge that my great, great grandparents had married in ....... . Unless, as is possible, the Lees left Scotland for Ireland, perhaps during the troubles or an earlier migration, Grandpa Lee's ancestors were Irish, and he grew up in Leith with Lee side Irish grandparents, aunts and uncles, surrounded as a child by Irish accents. Tracking the family later through Scotlands BMD records, I was relieved and delighted to find that Grandpa Lee, an eldest child had lots of cousins to play with when he was little. Playmates also included uncles, as his mother's younger brothers Francis and Edward Sulivan, were his age. Francis Sullivan, also a 'compositor', was the best man at Grandpa Lee's wedding. I discovered that Grandpa Lee had 10 younger brothers and sisters. The family lived for many years in what was probably a tenement in street called Cables Wynd, near the whisky distilleries located near Leith Docks. During the 1880's a brother, Patrick; and sister Ann were born, however Anne died at 4 yrs. In 1890's Anthony, Mary Cecilia, Barbara, Winnifred, Elizabeth and Phillip were born, however like their sister Anne, Mary Cecilia and Barbara died in early childhood;. Another Barbara, who also died in early childhood, was born in 1901, while in1904, his youngest sister Mary. and born, as was (her nephew), my father Anthony Lee. In 1908 his brother Anthony died of tuberculosis. Like Grandpa Lee, my father had Aunts and Uncles who were close to him in age. Born in 1883, James younger sisters Elizabeth was born in 1898, with another sister, Mary born in 1904, and brother Phillip were born in 1899. An only child at that time, there is a strong likelihood that he would have spent time with them as a child before leaving for Australia in 1912. Grandpa Lee's Birth Certificate revealed that at the time of his birth his father Anthony was a dock labourer Leith was a busy port at that time, and his father remained working on the docks until his death in 1917. Old Postcards and images of Leith found through Facebook groups provided some idea of what Leith must have been like in the 1880's as Grandpa Lee grew up. It's possible that his father Anthony was involved in the Leith Dock Strikes of 1889 pictured in one of these images. Grandpa Lee's Australian war records made reference to his being in the Leith based Royal Scots Divisions of the British Army for at least eight years before coming to Australia in 1912. I have had problems locating his documents in the UK military records, largely because a cousin, also named James Lee and born in Leith in the same year, had a long military record in the Royal Scots. This James Lee, a prize winning boxer affectionately known as Tancy Lee, was and possibly still is, considered a national living treasure in Scotland. His army records keep 'getting in the way', testing my patience, but I'm persisting. I'd love to visit the archives of the Royal Scots in Edinburgh to access the documents. Shipping records revealed that James, Rose and Tony had immigrated to Australia in 1912 when my father was eight years old. Business Directory entries show him as running printing businesses in Sydney, Electoral Records reflect the years in Sydney ; while Trove records flesh out some stories about a fire in the George Streetbuilding in which he had just started his printing business in 1913 and the family's social life in Manly and North Sydney. Facebook groups such as 'I Love Leith', have helped me to picture the life which Grandpa Lee had in Leith. There's a wonderful postcard series which was published in 1904, the year when James, aged only 21, and at the time I think in the Royal Scots, became a father - the year my father was born. Ancestry.com, and to a lesser extent My Heritage, have enabled me to further Grandpa Lee's extended family and led to treasured connections with Grandpa Lee's nieces, nephews. I knew nothing of them when I began my quest. HIs sister Elizabeth's son Bill Tully, who emigrated to Vancouver was a wonderful link to the family's life in Leith; his niece Barbara Lee, remains on my international phone list to call up from time to time in Toronto, Candada. I have Elizabeth's grandson on my list to visit if ever I go to Leith; Bill's daughters to visit in Vancouver; and have visited.... daughter in law in Brisbane. It has been such an adventure, with many treasured discoveries along the way.
So now, when I look at the photo I have of Grandpa Lee in uniform during World War I, I picture a young man with a large extended family who grew up in the Irish Catholic community of South Leith. Many of his male Lee relatives worked on the docks, however his mother's sister appears to have married a well to do printer. Grandpa Lee trained as a printer /compositor, then went into the army where his printing experience seems to have led to him specialising in communications and signalling. He established his own printing business briefly before immigrating to Australia in 1912. He established a printing business in Sydney, however returned to England in late 1915 with the Australian military forces. He was recommended for an award for bravery in relation to signalling and mentioned in despatches during the First World War. He was a much loved father to my father, loved by his daughter in laws, and highly respected by family and friends. Bill Tully, the son of his sister Elizabeth, explained to me once that the Lee family in Leith were "very proud of James, who became a Lieutenant in the Australian Army". I am too. Although I only met him once, I've always loved the fact that he nicknamed me 'Happy Face' and suspect that he was indeed a 'kindred spirit'. I first 'met' my great grandfather, Anthony Lee, on a census form - the 1871 Scottish census, to be precise. Not only did I meet Anthony, I also met my great great grandparents, Michael Lee and Margaret O'Reilly and great grand uncles James, John and Michael and great grand aunt Maria. They lived at or in the vicinity of 'Lambs Court', where Michael and James appeared to work, Michael as a gardener, James as a servant. Great grandfather Anthony Lee, then aged 12, and his brother John Lee, aged 10, were soap makers (soap making was a large industry in Leith at that time). All 'born in Ireland', the Lee family appear to have moved from Ireland to Leith in the late 1860's. I've found some photographs which may set a context for Anthony's life in Leith at that time. I wrote 'Anthony's Story' in 2013 in an effort to pull together what I had found out about my great grandfather and my impressions of his life for a 'Creative Writing of Family History' class.
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The Journey ...An 'occasional blog' recording elements of my renewed family history journey. This is the second wave in my 'family history' journey. The first lasted from 2010 to 2014. with intermittent bursts since then. It's time to revisit, to share more stories, to edit, to tackle uncertainties... Categories
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April 2024
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