Author: LEE, William
Biography:
LEE, William (1724-1799?: findmypast.com)
William Lee’s Elegiac Poem, his only known publication, appeared in 1788 but according to the author’s preface had been composed 36 years earlier, i.e. about 1752. He describes it as “a very juvenile production” occasioned by the death of his father, but it is a quite ambitious work for a young writer. By the time of publication he was and had for many years been occupied in “teaching youth” and had become the master of an academy at Lower Tooting, Surrey. The names of his parents are not recorded but he was baptised on 15 Jul. 1724 at Helmsley, Yorkshire. (No death record has been found for Mr. Lee Sen. c. 1752 in Helmsley but for Yorkshire there are too many.) He went up to Jesus College, Cambridge (matric. 1743, BA 1746) and was ordained deacon in 1748, priest in 1750. He appears to have held only one curacy, and that briefly (1746-8), at Cavendish, Suffolk, before turning from pastoral work to teaching. It is not known whether he married or had children, and his death date is uncertain. He might be the Rev. William Lee who died on 30 Dec. 1799 and was buried at St. Michael’s, Heighington, Durham, on 3 Jan. 1800, but that man’s estimated birth date was 1721 and he shares an inscription with a brother, Thomas Lee, who died on 30 Dec. 1803. (findmypast.com 24 Dec. 2023; ACAD; CCEd 24 Dec. 2023; ancestry.com 24 Dec. 2023)