Source: Michael Doyle Their Name Liveth For Evermore: The Great War Roll of Honour for Leicestershire and Rutland.
He was the son of John Thomas Lee. a shoe trade finisher, born 1865 in Kibworth, Leics., and his wife Jane Lee (nee Faulks, married in the 3rd quarter of 1895 in the Hinckley, Leics. district), born 1868 in Earl Shilton, Leics. Frank was born on the 29th June 1899 in Earl Shilton, Leics., his half blood siblings were, Robert Faulks, a shoe trade clicker, born 1889 and Jemima Faulks, born 1891 and his full blood sibling was John Walter, born 1896, all his siblings were born in Earl Shilton, Leics., in March 1901 the family home was at 8, Wood Street, Kings Row, Earl Shilton, Leics. In April 1911 Frank was a schoolboy and was residing in the family home at 5, Kings Row, Earl Shilton, Leics., together with his father, a boot trade finisher, his mother and half blood siblings, Robert, a boot trade clicker and Jemima, a hosiery trade mender, and his full blood siblings, John, a boot trade press boy and Florence Mary, born 1907 in Earl Shilton, Leics. His elder brother John Walter, also died. The background relating to the circumstances in which Frank lost his life are as follows; Ella Trout (16th February 1896 – 16th June 1952) of Hallsands, Devon, helped rescue nine men from a sinking ship. Ella was one of four sisters; the others being Patience, Clara and Edith. When their fisherman father, William, became sick, Patience and then Ella gave up school and operated his boat, providing the family's only source of income. William died in 1910, when the two fishing girls were 14 and 15 years old. Their cottage and the village was destroyed in January 1917 in a storm as result of the dredging of the shingle beach, years before, which protected the village beside the beach of Hallsands. On 8th September 1917, Ella was out in a boat crab fishing with her 10-year old cousin, William Trout, when they saw the SS Newholm struck by a naval mine, one mile south of Start Point. They along with William Stone, another fisherman in the vicinity, rowed to the scene and helped rescue nine men. Ella and William Trout rescued one sailor, but with the tide and the wind against them, they were unable to row back to shore. They, in turn, were towed back to safety by William Stone. In recognition of her bravery, she received the Order of the British Empire. There are however two conflicting accounts of how SS. Newholm was sunk, and the second account was that on the 8th September 1917, SS. Newholm, a defensively armed merchant steamer was en route from Bilbao to Middlesborough with a cargo of iron ore when she was sunk by a torpedo fired by German submarine U.31, Captained by Kurt Siewert, approximately 1 nautical mile south of Start Point in the English Channel, she sank with the loss of 20 lives.