Lieutenant-Colonel Sir Elliott Lees, 1st Baronet,
DSO (23 October 1860 – 16 October 1908), was a British
Conservative Party politician.
Lees was educated at
Eton and
Christ Church, Oxford.
Lees was elected to the
House of Commons
The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...
for
Oldham
Oldham is a large town in Greater Manchester, England, amid the Pennines and between the rivers Irk and Medlock, southeast of Rochdale and northeast of Manchester. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham, w ...
in 1886, a seat he held until 1892, and later represented
Birkenhead
Birkenhead (; cy, Penbedw) is a town in the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral, Merseyside, England; Historic counties of England, historically, it was part of Cheshire until 1974. The town is on the Wirral Peninsula, along the south bank of the R ...
from 1894 to 1906.
In 1897 he was created a Baronet, of South Lytchett Manor in
Lytchett Minster in the
County of Dorset
Dorset ( ; archaically: Dorsetshire , ) is a county in South West England on the English Channel coast. The ceremonial county comprises the unitary authority areas of Bournemouth, Christchurch and Poole and Dorset. Covering an area of ...
.
Lees was an officer in the
Dorsetshire Yeomanry
The Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry was a yeomanry regiment of the British Army founded in 1794 as the Dorsetshire Regiment of Volunteer Yeomanry Cavalry in response to the growing threat of invasion during the Napoleonic wars. It gained its first ro ...
. He volunteered for active service during the
Second Boer War
The Second Boer War ( af, Tweede Vryheidsoorlog, , 11 October 189931 May 1902), also known as the Boer War, the Anglo–Boer War, or the South African War, was a conflict fought between the British Empire and the two Boer Republics (the South ...
, and on 24 February 1900 was appointed a captain of the 26th (Dorsetshire) Company serving in the 7th Battalion,
Imperial Yeomanry
The Imperial Yeomanry was a volunteer mounted force of the British Army that mainly saw action during the Second Boer War. Created on 2 January 1900, the force was initially recruited from the middle classes and traditional yeomanry sources, but su ...
, which left England for
South Africa
South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring count ...
on the ''SS Manchester Merchant'' in early March. He was
mentioned in despatches
To be mentioned in dispatches (or despatches, MiD) describes a member of the armed forces whose name appears in an official report written by a superior officer and sent to the high command, in which their gallant or meritorious action in the face ...
and awarded the
Distinguished Service Order
The Distinguished Service Order (DSO) is a military decoration of the United Kingdom, as well as formerly of other parts of the Commonwealth, awarded for meritorious or distinguished service by officers of the armed forces during wartime, typi ...
(DSO) in November 1900. After his return to the United Kingdom he was appointed a supernumerary
major of the regiment in January 1902.
Lees married Florence Keith, daughter of Patrick Keith, in 1882. He died in October 1908, aged 47, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son Thomas. Lady Lees died in 1917.
Notes
References
*Kidd, Charles, Williamson, David (editors). ''Debrett's Peerage and Baronetage'' (1990 edition). New York: St Martin's Press, 1990.
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External links
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{{DEFAULTSORT:Lees, Sir Elliott, 1st Baronet
1860 births
1908 deaths
Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
Conservative Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies
UK MPs 1886–1892
UK MPs 1892–1895
UK MPs 1895–1900
UK MPs 1900–1906
Politics of the Metropolitan Borough of Oldham
Queen's Own Dorset Yeomanry officers
British military personnel of the Second Boer War
People educated at Eton College
Alumni of Christ Church, Oxford