James Lees
1829-1913

IN MEMORIAM JAMES LEES (1913) by Harold Brisbane Fletcher, son of the Newington President (Principal), in The Newingtonian

On Friday afternoon, l7th January, there were laid to rest in Waverley cemetery the mortal remains of Mr. James Lees, a very prominent figure in the history of Newington College for many years. He was appointed Drill Instructor about 1867, shortly before the Cadet Corps was established, and continued in that position till about 1882. All Old Newingtonians who knew him and their name is Legion hold him in high and affectionate regard for his sterling personal worth and his loyal devotion to Newington, into which he seemed to have grown incorporate. He arrived with H.M. 11th Regiment from Hobart Town in 1848, when a lad of 19 years of age, and was quartered in Victoria Barracks, Paddington. His connection with the early Volunteer Forces brought him into close contact with many prominent men of the time, so that he became widely known and highly esteemed, both in his professional capacity, and as a public spirited citizen.

He laid wisely and well the foundations of our Cadet Corps, and exerted a beneficial and enduring influence on all who came under his sway. He was a splendid specimen of the British soldier of the early Victorian era, had great physical powers, and a matchless voice (that always aroused admiration and envy on the parade ground), was thoroughly loyal to the British Throne and Constitution and the traditions of the Race, possessed a strong and magnetic personality, and was most eager to inculcate habits of neatness, thoroughness, and carefulness, in all over whom he exercised authority. He was an expert in his profession, and being possessed of the genius which has been defined as the capacity for taking infinite pains, never spared himself in the performance of duty. Fortunate indeed were the youths who came under his tuition and influence, for it would indeed have been difficult to find another man who combined to such an extent the fortiter in re with the suaviter in modo, the fulness of knowledge and capacity for imparting instruction, the lofty sense of duty, and the kindliness of disposition. I can look back over more than 40 years of unbroken friendship with the old Sergeant, to whom might well be applied the eulogy of Antony for Brutus.

"His life was gentle; and the elements
So mixed in him that Nature might stand up
And say to all the world: 'This was a man I'"

Around his grave, not far from that of Major General Richardson, under whom he served in the days of the old Volunteer Force, were gathered his stalwart sons, a few friends, and myself the solitary representative of Old Newingtonia and as his body was committed, "Earth to earth, dust to dust, ashes to ashes," my heartfelt sentiment was Requiescat in pace! Of our dear old friend, we might say in the words of Vigil,

Semper honor, nomenque tuum, laudesque manebunt.

H. B. FLETOHER.