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John Lee
Photo: https://wellcomeimages.org/indexplus/image/V0003461.html Wellcome Collection gallery (2018-03-30): https://wellcomecollection.org/works/cy2h555t CC-BY-4.0, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons10

John Lee

English astronomer

John Lee (né Fiott; 28 April 1783 – 25 February 1866), was an English philanthropist, astronomer, mathematician, antiquarian, barrister, and numismatist.2

From Wikipedia’s article on John Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Born Apr 28, 1783, died Feb 25, 1866.1

Companies

Early life and education

  • Date not recordedSt John's College3
  • Date not recordedUniversity of Cambridge3

Lee read Mathematics at St John's College, Cambridge between 1802 and 1806, graduating fifth wrangler in his year. He was elected a fellow in 1808. Following his studies from 1807 to 1815 he travelled extensively in the Middle East and Europe as a travelling bachelor. During this time he gained an interest in antiquities.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Career

Occupation: jurist, philanthropist, astronomer, barrister, numismatist, librarian, antiquarian, mathematician.6

  • 1861 to 1863President of the Royal Astronomical Society5
  • 1836 to 1839President of the Royal Numismatic Society5
  • Date not recordedFounded Royal Meteorological Society4

Between 1830 and 1839, Lee built an astronomical observatory in the south-west corner of Hartwell House.

Lee helped found the Royal Meteorological Society in 1850 and was its president from 1855 to 1857.

On 14 May 1824, Lee was elected as fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society and was its president between 1861 and 1863. He became a Fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London in 1828 and a Fellow of the Philological Society in 1831. Lee was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1831 and the first president of the Numismatic Society of London in 1836. He also served as Chairman of the London Peace Society.

In 1863 at the age of 80, he was made a barrister of Gray's Inn and a Q.C. the following year. The lunar crater Lee is named after him.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Personal life

  • DiedFeb 25, 1866, Buckinghamshire7
  • CitizenshipUnited Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, Kingdom of Great Britain8

Family

He was the eldest son of John Fiott and Harriet, daughter of William Lee, of Totteridge, MP for Appleby, of the family of the Lee baronets of Hartwell. His father was involved in the family counting house business and was a failed East India merchant. He was orphaned when young and was brought up by his maternal uncle, William Lee Antonie.

He took the name Lee in 1816 following the death of his uncle William Lee Antonie in 1815. In 1833 Lee married Cecilia Rutter (23 July 1782 – 1 April 1854), of Lymington, whom he described as of "humble station but excellent character and good disposition". She died in 1854 and was buried in the graveyard of Hartwell Church, in Buckinghamshire. In 1855, he married again, this time to Louisa Catherine, daughter of Lee's friend Robert Wilkinson, who ran a private school at Totteridge Park, the old Lee family seat (other sources indicate her to be daughter of Richard Ford Heath, of Uxbridge).

Lee died at Hartwell House in 1866. An obituary was published the following year in the monthly notices of the Royal Astronomical Society.

From Wikipedia’s article on John Lee (this version), CC BY-SA 4.0.

Sources

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