Author: Lee, James Prince
Biography:
LEE, James Prince (1804-69: ODNB)
He was born on 28 July 1804 and baptised on 18 Aug. at St. Martin Pomeroy, Ironmonger Lane, City of London, the eldest son of Stephen Lee, FRS, Assistant Secretary and Librarian of the Royal Society, and his wife Sarah Childley, who had married the previous year in Shoreditch. He was educated at St. Paul’s (1813-24) and Trinity College Cambridge (Craven Scholarship 1827, BA 1828, Fellow 1829, MA 1831) and then entered the Established Church. He relinquished his fellowship upon marriage to Susan (or Susannah) Penrice (1804-75) on 25 Dec. 1830 at Elmbridge, Worcester. They had two daughters. He was appointed fifth-form master at Rugby by Thomas Arnold and remained there 1830-38. He then became Headmaster at King Edward’s School, Birmingham, and acquired a reputation for his Greek teaching (including the New Testament). He became Bishop of Manchester in 1848 and was considered Low Church with evangelical, anti-Catholic sympathies. This coupled with his headmasterly authoritarian manner and bad temper (aggravated perhaps by poor health relieved by laudanum and alcohol) aroused hostility in High Church quarters. He would also later disinherit his eldest daughter because he disapproved of her marriage. Despite his character flaws, he pursued his scholarly interests and civic duties with vigour. He was a member of several learned societies including the renowned Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society (founded 1781), was a supporter and donor to Owens College (founded in 1851 to provide non-sectarian education), was active in the establishment of the Manchester Free Library (1852), consecrated over a hundred new churches, and expanded church education. He formed an important library on the Greek New Testament and collected works on topography all of which he bequeathed to Owens College. He died on 24 Dec. 1869 at Mauldeth Hall, near Manchester, and was buried at nearby Heaton Mersey. (ODNB 1 Sept. 2022; CCEd 1 Sept. 2022; ancestry.co.uk 1 Sept. 2022; findmypast.co.uk 1 Sept. 2022; SJC 4 Jan. 1831; Manchester Times 25 Jan. 1848; LES 27 Dec. 1869) AA
Other Names:
- J. P. Lee