Hon. James Lee

Profile & Legacies Summary

???? - 1821

Biography

James Lee was workhouse surgeon in St Catherine and physician to the Spanish Town gaol in 1787. 'Dr Lee aquired a large fortune by his practice in Spanish Town. He was the junior partner of Dr Brodbelt, sen. ... and the senior partner of Sir Michael Benignus Clare...'
Memorial inscription in Spanish Town Cathedral, 'Sacred to the memory of the Honorable James Lee [E]squire, MD, member of His Majesty's Privy Council of this island who died in the Gulph of Florida on his passage to England, where he was going for the recovery of his health on the 30th of May 1821 aged 68. This monument was erected by his affectionate friend Francis Rigby Brodbelt 1822.
Will of Hon. James Lee of St Catherine Jamaica proved 31/12/1822. The main beneficiaries were his mixed-race daughter and her children. Eliza Gardener Johnson, 'a free black woman', described as 'my faithful', and Jemima Johnson Lee ('free mulatto', presumably Eliza and James's daughter), Eliza Lee Brodbelt, James Lee Brodbelt, Thomas Lee Brodbelt, Jemima Lee Clare and Sarah Lee Clare (children of Jemima Johnson Lee).

Sources

James Henry Lawrence-Archer, Monumental inscriptions of the British West Indies (London, 1875) p. 54.
Lawrence-Archer, Memorial Inscriptions p. 54.
PROB 11/1664/618.

We are grateful to Stephen Mallet for his assistance with compiling this entry.

Further Information

Children

[with Eliza Gardener or Gardner Johnson] Jemima Johnson Lee

Will

Will of Hon James Lee.

Will dated 12 May 1821.

Codicil dated 19 May 1821.

Will proved at London on 31 Dec 1822, with Codicil, on oath of Francis Rigby Brodbelt, Doctor of Physic.

To John Gardener Millward, friend, my house and furniture in Spanish Town (subject to codicil below).

To 'my faithful' Eliza Gardener Johnson, free black woman, £3,300 Jamaican currency, plate, wearing apparel, wines, table, household linen, 2 horses, my chaise and all my slaves.

To Eliza Gardener Johnson and Jemima Johnson Lee, equally and as tenants in common, my ‘pen’ and all the stock thereon, my mountain called Rodon’s and all the stock thereon.

To Alexander Bayley of the parish of St. Dorothy, £50 to purchase a ring.

To Sarah Lee Clare and Jemima Lee Clare, £1,000 each on reaching age 20 or getting married, interest in the meantime to be applied to their maintenance and education (in the event of death of one, the capital goes to the other, in the event of death of both the capital goes to Jemima Johnson Lee).

To Francis Rigby Brodbelt of Bath Easton Villa in England and his children Eliza Lee Brodbelt, James Lee Brodbelt and Thomas Lee Brodbelt, equally and as tenants in common, the residue of the estate.

To nominate Thomas Stallard Penoyre, Druggist of the City of London, Francis Rigby Brodbelt, John Gardener Millward and Alexander Bayley as executors. Codicil (on board ship ‘Eliza’ [William Atkinson, Master] on passage from Jamaica to Bristol): Ievoke the gift of the house in Spanish Town and leave instead to Jemima Johnson Lee. £500 to Dr George Cox (in addition to what already signed for). Jemima Johnson Lee to be an additional executrix.

Occupation

Physician

Associated Estates (3)

The dates listed below have different categories as denoted by the letters in the brackets following each date. Here is a key to explain those letter codes: