Lee Kuan Yew - Family Background

Family Background

According to his autobiography, Lee is a fourth-generation Singaporean. His Hakka great-grandfather, Lee Bok Boon, who was born in 1846, emigrated from Dapu County, Guangdong province, China, to Singapore in 1863. He married a shopkeeper's daughter, Seow Huan Nio, but returned to China in 1882, leaving behind his wife and three children. Lee Bok Boon built a little manor in his home village, and bought himself a mandarinate, but he died just two years after his return.

Lee Kuan Yew's grandfather was Lee Hoon Leong, born in Singapore in 1871 and a British subject. He was educated in English at Raffles Institution to standard V, which is equivalent to lower secondary school in Singapore today. Lee Hoon Leong then worked as a dispenser, an unqualified pharmacist, and later was the purser on a steamship of the Heap Eng Moh Shipping Line, then owned by Chinese businessman Oei Tiong Ham.

While working as a purser, Lee Hoon Leong, age 26, he married 16-year-old Ko Liem Nio, in Semarang, Java, Indonesia. It was an arranged marriage, as was then the custom. Both families were middle-class, and the bride and groom were both English-educated. Lee Hoon Leong's maternal grandfather owned the Katong market, a few rubber estates and houses at Orchard Road. Lee Hoon Leong eventually became managing director of the Heap Eng Moh Steamship Company Ltd.

Lee Hoon Leong had two wives (common at that time), and fathered five daughters and three sons. His sons Lee Chin Koon, also English-educated and a British subject, would marry Chua Jim Neo, who gave birth to Lee Kuan Yew in 1923, at 92 Kampong Java Road in Singapore. Lee Kuan Yew has three brothers: Dennis Lee, Freddy Lee and Lee Suan Yew. He has one sister, Monica Lee.

Lee Kuan Yew's grandfathers' wealth declined considerably during the Great Depression, and his father, Lee Chin Koon became a poor shopkeeper.

Like Lee, his brother Dennis read law at the University of Cambridge, and they set up a law firm (Lee & Lee). Edmund W. Barker, Lee's close friend, also joined the law firm. Lee and Barker later left the law firm to enter politics. Lee's brother Freddy became a stockbroker; brother Suan Yew read medicine at the University of Cambridge and opened a successful practice.

Lee and his wife Kwa Geok Choo were married on 30 September 1950. Both speak English as their native tongue. Lee started learning Chinese in 1955 at age 32, before that he was illiterate in Chinese. Lee also learned Japanese as an adult and he worked as a Japanese translator during the Japanese occupation of Singapore.

Kwa Geok Choo died on 2 October 2010 in her sleep. Lee and Kwa have two sons and one daughter.

Lee's eldest son, Lee Hsien Loong, a former Brigadier-General, became Prime Minister of Singapore in 2004. Lee Hsien Loong was educated at the University of Cambridge as well, where he studied mathematics and computer science. He graduated as a Wrangler, where he scored 12 more alphas (

Several members of Lee's family hold prominent positions in Singaporean society. His youngest son, Lee Hsien Yang, was also a former Brigadier-General and former President and Chief Executive Officer (CEO) of SingTel. Lee Hsien Yang was also educated in the University of Cambridge, where he read engineering and graduated with first class honours. He is currently the Non-Executive Director and Chairman of Fraser and Neave Ltd and Chairman of the Civil Aviation Authority of Singapore (CAAS).

Lee's daughter, Lee Wei Ling, runs the National Neuroscience Institute. Lee Hsien Loong's wife, Ho Ching, is the Executive Director and CEO of Temasek Holdings.