Robert Cooper Lee

Slave-owner and Crown Solicitor in Jamaica, then an 'agent' in the City of London, dying in London in 1794. Father of Richard Lee (q.v.), Frances Lee (q.v.) and Favell Bevan, and father-in-law of David Bevan (q.v.). His grandson and namesake Robert Cooper Lee Bevan was influential in the development of Barclays Bank in the 19th century.

1. Will of Robert Cooper Lee of Bloomsbury proved 10/04/1794. Under the will he left an annuity of £500 p.a. to his wife Priscilla and amounts of £2000 and £3000 to his daughter Frances Lee ('now living with me'), and £3000-4000 each to his sons Robert, Richard and Scudamore Cooper Lee. He left his Jamaican estates in trust to secure the annuities and legacies and left half the surplus to Robert and Richard Lee and half to his other children.

2. In January 1777, the House of Lords 'took into consideration' a private act obtained in Jamaica by Robert Cooper Lee in December 1776 to authorise and enable him to settle and dispose of his estates, a necessary step for the benefit of his children given that Priscilla Kelly, their mother and later his wife, was of colour.

3. Robert Cooper Lee and John Allen [of Inchmartine] were sequential signatories of an address [undated but from contextual evidence 1781] to King George III appealing for more military support for the West India colonies.

Anne M. Powers, A Parcel of Ribbons - The Lee Family Letters (Privately printed, 2012) traces the rise of Robert Cooper Lee; there is more material at http://aparcelofribbons.co.uk [accessed 21/06/2018].

1. PROB 11/1244/100.

2. Journals of the Board of Trade and Plantations: Volume 14, January 1776 - May 1782, June 1777 Vol. 84 pp. 92-99, https://www.british-history.ac.uk/jrnl-trade-plantations/vol14/pp92-99 [accessed 29/06/2020].

3. Remembrancer or Impartial Repository of Public Events for the Year 1782 Petition of the West India Merchants and Planters to the King' pp. 89-92.