Virtual
War Memorial
Australia

Ann Lee (nee Wilson)
Ann, the daughter of Captain William Werden Wilson and Sophia Irene Wilson (nee Whitmore) was born 12th November 1912 in Plymouth, England. She had seven siblings including Gwendoline Jane, Lejeune and six others as well as being a half-sister to a further child after her mother died and her father remarried.
Anne’s father was born in Devon, Dartmouth, England, the son of Vice Admiral William Wilson. Her mother, Sophia Irene Whitmore, was born in Toronto. Following the death of Sophia, Ann’s father remarried on the 12th of December 1936 to Rose Margaret Masterman.
Ann came to Australia with her sister, Jane who had married John Masterman. Ann was a nursemaid to the two young girls, Judith and Sonia. The family lived in the Clare Valley at Undalya where she met her future husband, Alvan Kent Penn Lee.
The most notable feature of Undalya is the Basket Bridge over the River Wakefield. It was built in 1855, with various alterations, additions and repairs over ensuing years. It had taken the full force of many floods and at one time was the biggest one-span bridge in South Australia. The bridge was bypassed with a new bridge slightly to the east of it in the 1950s and today only serves local residents. Locally, the Undalya Cemetery is also the resting place of some of the Masterman family.
Ann enlisted as a Lance Corporal in the Voluntary Aid Detachment, Australian Military Forces in November 1941.
She moved from here to the General Hospital, then to the Northfield Hospital, being promoted to Acting Lance Corporal on the 18th September 1942. Shortly after, she fractured her leg on the 6th of October before being evacuated on the 11th to the Mt Barker General Hospital, then to the Adelaide Hospital and back to Mt Barker. She was then granted Emergency Leave until the 2nd of January 1943.On her return she was promoted to Acting Corporal. During this time she attended a Cooking School to undertake a Special Cooking Course.
The fracture and dislocation of her left ankle continued to be challenging but in July and August she undertook further qualifications in the cooking field at Keswick. She was posted to sedentary duties, then to further add to her discomfort was treated for a boil on her forehead on the 17th of December, just prior to her marriage to Alvan.
Despite, or perhaps because of the war, the two married on December 28, 1943 at St John’s Church, Auburn. At that stage Alvan was serving in the 2nd AIF
Such events were important to communities in those challenging times. The marriage was reported in two publications:
The Chronicle Thursday 6th January 1944 in Marriages
Lee – Wilson
On December 28, 1943 Auburn, Ann Werden (AAMWS) daughter of Captain WW Wilson (RN) Wiltshire England to Alvan KP (2nd AIF) elder son of Mrs A Lee and the late AJ Lee Clare
And also in:
The Blyth Agriculturalist (SA: 1908 – 1954) on Friday 14th January, 1944 reported on Ann and Alvan’s wedding at the Auburn St John’s Church.
Ann was accompanied to the church by Jane Masterman and the two daughters, Judith and Sonia Masterman, for who she had cared.
The newly-weds had been granted a short leave to honeymoon at Somerton. Then, although Ann returned to her work in the Australian General Hospital, within six months, peace was declared and Ann was discharged to live her married life with Alvan on their farm. Subsequently they had three children, Elizabeth Ann in 1945, Christopher Werden in 1947 and Rosemary Alice in 1949. Ann saw each of her children marry and became a grandmother to six grandchildren.
The couple finally Alvan finally sold their Stanley Flat farm in the 1980s, moving to Adelaide (Warradale) with Alvan’s older maiden sister, Aden.
Aged 68, Ann died on the 22nd of March 1981 and is buried at Centennial Park, Adelaide (General Section, Path 26, Grave 1053). Her middle name on the memorial is misspelt Wurden. Of the service personnel commemorated at Undalya, Ann is the only female of the eleven remembered.
Information provided by Kaye and Graham Lee (nephew)