William Lees was born in 1855. He was a company representative for a Nottingham lace manufacturer. At some point before the outbreak of war in 1914, he moved to Lille in Northern France. He remained in the town for the duration of the war and correspondence in this collection reveals that he was still living there in 1936. During the German occupation of Lille, Lees appears to have been active in the resistance movement, recording details about German activities, and collecting printed ephemera of their stay. Lille was bombarded by German guns during an offensive 10-12 October 1914. Following four years of strict policing, requisitioning goods and accommodation from the inhabitants, and using local factories, the Germans retreated peacefully from Lille in October 1918 as the allies advanced.
The collection includes manuscripts and printed papers, primarily concerning life in Lille, France during the First World War, together with later papers relating to the exhibition of the collection and its transfer to Nottingham. The collection comprises:
The collection has been divided by document type into five series. Within these series, items have been arranged chronologically.
A local solicitor, Herbert Mayo Leman (b. 1870), corresponded with Lees in Lille, and in 1936 arranged for the papers concerning his wartime experiences to come to the University of Nottingham Library.
ACCESS: Accessible to all registered readers.
LANGUAGE: English
REPROGRAPHIC: Reprographic copies can be supplied for educational use and private study purposes only, depending on access status and the condition of the documents.
COPYRIGHT: Identification of copyright holders of unpublished material is often difficult.
Permission to make any published use of any material from the collection must be sought in advance
in writing from the Keeper of Manuscripts and Special Collections (email