Robert Gee VC MC MP (1876 - 1960)

Biography

Robert Gee VC MC

Robert Gee VC MC was a Jewish-English recipient of the Victoria Cross, the highest and most prestigious award for gallantry in the face of the enemy that can be awarded to British and Commonwealth forces. Having worked his way from Private to Warrant Officer and then commissioned, he had previously been awarded the Military Cross. Nothing deterred the man! Father deceased before his birth, mother died when he was nine, tween and teen years spent in an orphanage, business closed before he completed an apprenticeship, desertion, disllusionment with politics – Robert Gee displayed the 'never-say-die' attitude that a successful life requires; he verified that circumstances ought not control one's life, but to let the positive responses to those circumstances take charge.

Robert Gee was born on 7th May 1876 at 29 Metcalf Street, Anstey, Leicestershire, England. He was the second surviving son and youngest of the seven surviving children of the late Robert Gee and his wife, Amy Foulds, framework knitters from Anstey, Leicestershire.^[1] He was of Jewish-English descent.^[2] Robert's father had died a few months before he was born. An orphan in the modern sense of the term (orphan originally meant fatherless) from 1885, when he was just nine years of age, when his mother died; he was placed in the Leicester Union Workhouse and then two years later into the Countesthorpe Cottage Homes.

In 1892 he was apprenticed to Joseph Shaw, who had an ornamental and metal iron works business in Aylestone Park, Leicester, however the business closed before Robert completed his apprenticeship. Then aged sixteen years, Robert enlisted in the British Army's 4th Queen’s Own Hussars, giving a false age and name. Six months later, he deserted and enlisted in the Royal Fusiliers. Posted to the 2nd Battalion, then stationed at Guernsey, his past caught up with him. His punishment for fraudulent enlistment was imprisonment for six weeks and forfeiture of the 256 days' pay he had received with the Royal Fusiliers. Despite this, he was posted to the 1st Battalion as a Lance Corporal and deployed to the East Indies until March 1900, when he returned as a Corporal. He was then posted to the newly formed 4th Battalion and promoted to Sergeant.^[3] It appears clear that Sergeant Gee paraded for King Edward VII's coronation in 1902 as his medal set includes a King Edward VII Coronation Medal in Bronze (see photo below).^[4]

He married Elizabeth Dixon, of Huntingdon in 1902 at Eltham, Kent.^[5] They had two daughters:

• Edith (-1986); married surname Harrison; son Robert Harrison
• Amy

Following problems with his heart in 1908 he was promoted to Staff Sergeant and posted as Regimental Quartermaster Sergeant at the Regimental Depot in Hounslow. During this time, Robert, who had always been interested in military history, gave lectures on the subject, one of the few non-commissioned officers qualified to do so. He was promoted to Warrant Officer Class 2 and, after being in the army for almost twenty-two years, was then commissioned as a Second Lieutenant on 21st May 1915.

With the First World War underway on the other side of the English Channel, Robert was posted back to the 2nd Battalion, who were then part of the 86th Brigade, 29th Division, deployed to Gallipoli in August where he served as a company commander. Early in 1916, the division was re-deployed to the Western Front. On the opening day of the Somme battle at Beaumont Hamel in 1916, he was awarded the Military Cross after he exposed himself to enemy fire to encourage his men to attack. He was wounded but refused to leave and continued urging his men forward until he was blown into the air by a shell and was carried out of the line. He was wounded a second time during the Ypres battles of August 1917.

Robert was awarded the Victoria Cross for further extreme actions of gallantry on 30th November 1917 during the Battle of Cambrai at Masnières^[6] and Les Rues Vertes, Nord, France.^[7] He was wounded again during the action; refusing attention until the defence was fully organised. He later transferred to the Royal West Kent Regiment.^[8] During the war Robert was Mentioned in Despatches on three accasions.^[9]

After the war, Robert left the army after 25 years' service and began studying law, however, his wounds prevented him from due concentration. Instead, he entered the House of Commons after winning the seat of Woolwich East as a Conservative in a 1921 by-election. His cause was helped in that he was a Victoria Cross and Military Cross 'hero' and his primary opponent, Ramsay Macdonald, was a pacifist who had opposed the war. Robert lost the seat in the 1922 general election to the Labour Party candidate. Undeterred, he successfully stood for Bosworth at the 1924 general election.^[10] Like most new members of parliament, Robert had sought to make a difference through a parliamentary career, however, quickly became disillusioned with the political 'skullduggery'; so much so that he failed to meet any of his political duties for over a year.

When his seat was finally declared vacant in 1927, and a by-election was called,^[11] Robert moved permanently to Western Australia, Australia, where he took up farming and found his health improving. He emigrated on the Ormonde, arriving at Fremantle on the 29th of June, 1926.^[12][13][14]

In 1937, Robert was awarded the King George VI Coronation Medal and in 1953, the Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal. He returned to England for the 1956 VC Centenary celebrations as part of the Australian contingent. While in England, he visited Leicester and was given a warm welcome by the Lord Mayor and made life Vice-President of the Leicester branch of the Jewish Ex-Servicemen’s Association.

Back home in Western Australia, Robert's health began to deteriorate once more and he was admitted to the Home of Peace, Thomas Street, Subiaco at the end of January 1960. He passed away, aged 84 years, on 2nd August 1960 at Perth, Western Australia. His remains were cremated at Karrakatta Crematorium, Western Australia, and scattered over the rose garden, as per his wishes.^[15]

Robert Gee's Victoria Cross and medals are displayed at the Royal Fusiliers Museum in the Tower of London, England:

• Victoria Cross
• Military Cross
• 1914-1915 Star
• British War Medal
• Victory Medal (although no Mentioned in Despatches oak leaf Clasp)
• King Edward VII Coronation Medal, Bronze
• King George VI Coronation Medal
• Queen Elizabeth II Coronation Medal
• Army Long Service and Good Conduct Medal

Sources

1. ↑ UK FreeBMD Birth Index Jun qtr 1876, vol 7a, page 245
2. ↑ Rubenstein, William D.; Jolles, Michael; and Rubenstein, Hilary L. The Palgrave Dictionary of Anglo-Jewish History, Palgrave Macmillan, 2011, p. 315
3. ↑ VC Online: Robert Gee VC; accessed 6 Jul 2019
4. ↑ Wikipedia: King Edward VII Coronation Medal; accessed 6 Jul 2019
5. ↑ UK FreeBMD Marriage Index Mar qtr 1902, vol 2a, page 1734
6. ↑ Wikipedia: Masnières; accessed 6 Jul 2019
7. ↑ London Gazette 8 January 1918 Supplement:30471Page:722; accessed 6 Jul 2019
8. ↑ The West Australian (Perth, WA : 1879 - 1954) Tue 30 Apr 1918 Page 5 ANOTHER JEW V.C.; accessed 6 Jul 2019
9. ↑ VC Online: Robert Gee VC; accessed 6 Jul 2019
10. ↑ F W S Craig, British Parliamentary Election Results 1918-1949; Political Reference Publications, Glasgow, 1969 pp 62 & 410
11. ↑ The Times, 24 March 1927 p9
12. ↑ Fremantle, Western Australia, Passenger Lists, 1897-1963

    Name Captain R V A M P Gee

    Gender Male

    Birth Date abt 1876

    Departure Place London, United Kingdom

    Arrival Date 29 Jun 1926

    Arrival Place Fremantle, Western Australia, Australia

    Age on Arrival 50

    Vessel Ormonde

13. ↑ 1926 'PERSONAL', The Daily News (Perth, WA : 1882 - 1955), 29 June, p. 5. (HOME (FINAL) EDITION), viewed 06 Apr 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article83645586

    The following passengers disembarked at Fremantle from the R.M.S. Ormonde today: — Mrs. Craddock, Captain R. Gee, V.C., M.C., M.P., Messrs. Parker (2), O 'Callaghan, and Weil.

14. ↑ 1926 'CAPTAIN GEE, V.C., M.P.', The Herald (Melbourne, Vic. : 1861 - 1954), 5 July, p. 4. , viewed 06 Apr 2023, http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article243571169
15. ↑ Western Australia Death Index #2121/1960; age incorrectly listed as 86 years

• Wikipedia profile: Robert Gee; accessed 6 Jul 2019.