Richard Lee

West India merchant of Fowkes Buildings in London, born Jamaica c. 1765, son of Robert Cooper Lee (died 20/3/1794) of Rose Hall Jamaica and Bedford Square and brother of Frances Lee (q.v.).  

1. In 1841 he was living at 12 Weymouth Street 'aged 70' Independent with servants; in 1851 he was at Calverley Park aged 85 with two visitors and servants.

2. Lee left £600,000 on his death. He died unmarried and without children, leaving the bulk of his estate to his nephews and nieces, including several large monetary bequests (each up to £10,000). He left his estate in Jamaica, including his share in Rose Hall (St Thomas in the Vale) and Wheelerfield (St Thomas in the East) to his nephew Robert Cooper Lee Bevan (see below). He named three nephews as trustees, with the remainder of his estate being divided between his 6 nephews and nieces. Lee's trustees were Robert Cooper Lee Bevan, Richard Lee Bevan and Augustus Henry Bosanquet (husband of Louisa Priscilla and partner in successor firm to Hall, McGarel & Co, q.v.). The other principal beneficiaries were Rev David Barclay Bevan, Louisa Priscilla Bosanquet nee Bevan, Frederica Emma Stephenson nee Bevan (wife of Ernst Augustus Edmund Henry Stephenson) and Frances Lee Morier nee Bevan (wife of William Morier, Royal Navy). He also left his niece Favell Lee Mortimer [the educational writer, identified in the will as wife of Rev. Thomas Mortimer] an annuity of £1000 p.a. A legacy of £6,500 and an annuity of £500 p.a. were left to Sarah Nichols of Lambeth but their relationship not elaborated upon.

3. Richard Lee's sister Favell (1780-1841) married the Quaker banker David Bevan. When their son Robert Cooper Lee Bevan, another banker, died he left £953,000 and is in the ODNB.

1. 1841 and 1851 census online.

2. William D. Rubinstein, Who were the rich? 1860- (Volumes 3 and 4, manuscripts in preparation), reference 1857/25 'Richard Lee'; Will of Richard Lee of Calverley Park Tunbridge Wells, Kent, 10/2/1857, PROB 11/2246/158; Anne M. Powers, A Parcel of Ribbons: Letters of the 18th Century Lee Family in London and Jamaica (lulu.com, 2012), pp. 334-37.

3. Leslie Hannah, ‘Bevan, Robert Cooper Lee (1809–1890)’, ODNB online; Louisa Clara Meyer, The Peep of Day: Being the life story of Mrs. Mortimer (London, 1901), p.163; Audrey Nona Gamble, A History of the Bevan Family (London, 1923), p. 83.

We are grateful to Christina Eastwood for her help compiling this entry.