William Lee (English judge)

Sir William Lee

Sir William Lee PC (2 August 1688 – 8 April 1754) was a British jurist and politician.

Life

He was the second son of Sir Thomas Lee, 2nd Baronet. He matriculated at Wadham College, Oxford in 1704, shortly after entering the Middle Temple; he did not take a degree, but was called to the bar in 1710. Member of Parliament for Wycombe from 1727 until 1730, he gave up the seat when he became a Justice of the King's Bench.^[1]

Lee was Lord Chief Justice of England and Wales from 8 June 1737 until his sudden death in 1754. He was appointed formally as Chancellor of the Exchequer as a temporary expedient on 8 March 1754, when Henry Pelham died, with his brother Sir George Lee as Under Treasurer of the Exchequer, until April 6, his own death.^[1]

Lord Campbell noted that Lee "certainly stood up for the rights of woman more strenuously than any English judge before or since his time".

References

J. C. D. Clark, The Dynamics of Change: The Crisis of the 1750s and English Party Systems (Cambridge University Press, 2002).
Lord Campbell, The Lives of the Chief Justices of England: Volume III (Cockcroft and Co, 1878).

Notes

1 2 Lemmings, David. "Lee, Sir William". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/16315. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

Parliament of Great Britain
Preceded by The Earl of Shelburne Harry Waller	Member of Parliament for Wycombe 1727 – 1730 With: Harry Waller	Succeeded by Harry Waller Sir Charles Vernon
Legal offices
Preceded by The Lord Hardwicke	Lord Chief Justice of the King's Bench 1737–1754	Succeeded by Sir Dudley Ryder
Political offices
Preceded by Henry Pelham	Chancellor of the Exchequer 1754	Succeeded by Henry Bilson Legge

Chancellors of the Exchequer
of England	Eustace of Fauconberg Maunsell Leicester Westminster Chishull W. Giffard G. Giffard Chishull de la Leye Willoughby Benstead Sandale Hotham Stanton Harvington Wodehouse Stratford Ashby Ashton Barnham Somer Somerset Browne Witham Thwaites Witham Fowler Catesby Lovell Berners Cromwell Baker Sackville Mildmay Fortescue Dunbar Caesar Greville Portland Barrett Cottington Colepeper Hyde Ashley Duncombe Ernle Delamer Hampden Montagu Smith Boyle
of Great Britain	Boyle Smith Harley Benson Wyndham Onslow Walpole Stanhope Aislabie Pratt Walpole Sandys Pelham Lee Bilson-Legge Lyttelton Bilson-Legge Mansfield Bilson-Legge Barrington Dashwood Grenville Dowdeswell Townshend North Cavendish Pitt Cavendish Pitt Addington Pitt Ellenborough Petty Perceval Vansittart
of the United Kingdom	Vansittart Robinson Canning Tenterden Herries Goulburn Althorp Denman Peel Spring Rice Baring Goulburn Wood Disraeli Gladstone Lewis Disraeli Gladstone Disraeli Hunt Lowe Gladstone Northcote Gladstone Childers Hicks Beach Harcourt R. Churchill Goschen Harcourt Hicks Beach Ritchie A. Chamberlain Asquith Lloyd George McKenna Law A. Chamberlain Horne Baldwin N. Chamberlain Snowden W. Churchill Snowden N. Chamberlain Simon Wood Anderson Dalton Cripps Gaitskell Butler Macmillan Thorneycroft Heathcoat-Amory Lloyd Maudling Callaghan Jenkins Macleod Barber Healey Howe Lawson Major Lamont Clarke Brown Darling Osborne Hammond
Italic: Interim Chancellor of the Exchequer, as Lord Chief Justice

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