Reginald Robinson lee was indeed married to Emily Selina Hannah Hill on 15th April 1897 in Portsmouth. The wedding was reported in the Portsmouth Evening News and Reginald must have been impressively resplendent in his dress uniform of a naval lieutenant being an assistant paymaster in the Royal Navy.
However, on the 1st February 1900 he was ignominiously discharged from the Royal navy as a hopeless alcoholic. He had previously been sent home from his posting in Jamaica on the 14th February 1898 suffering from delerium tremental and despite being given a second chance serving on HMS Diadem, he failed to shake off his reliance on alcohol
Having married into a typical middle class family of that time, I can well imagine that his intemperate behaviour and his disgrace in being discharged as an officer in the Royal Navy,led to the break-up of his marriage. This is indicated in the 1901 census when his wife had reverted to her maiden name and was living with her mother in an imposing house, St Hilda's, that still stands today on the main road out of Portsmouth on the London Road.
Frederick Fleet stated that Lee had turned to drink after the Titanic sinking. It begs the question: Did Reginald Lee manage to to shake off his addiction to alcohol between leaving the R.N. and joining the merchant fleet or was he able to continue serving as a lookout. And, in the event, be a totally unsuitable person to have been in the responsible position of a lookout in the Titanic crows nest on that freezing cold fateful night.
Reginald Robinson Lee died in the Sailor's Home in Southampton on the 6th August 1913 and is buried in a family grave with his mother and father in Highland Road cemetery, Portsmouth.
