Samuel Lee 1625?-1691

Samuel LEE 1625?-1691

Biographical Note

Born in London, son of Samuel Lee, haberdasher. MA Magdalen Hall, Oxford 1648, after which he became a fellow of Wadham College (dean, 1653). Rector of St Botolph without Bishopsgate, London 1655, from which he withdrew in 1660; having become interested in scientific experimentation while at Oxford, in 1666 he moved to America with a licence to investigate natural rarities. Returning to London, he was licensed to preach as a presbyterian at Newington Green 1672, and became pastor to an independent congregation at Holborn in 1677. He went back to America in 1685, and became pastor of a congregational church in Boston; deciding to return to England in 1691, his ship was captured by French pirates and he died as a prisoner in St Malo. He published numerous doctrinal and devotional works, and was noted for his learning.

Books

Lee bequeathed his estate to his wife and daughters; his library was sold by retail sale in Boston in 1693. The sale catalogue, comprising 16 pages of mostly unnumbered lots, is divided by language and subject (Latin and English), and contains books on a wide range of subjects including history, philosophy, mathematics, medicine, science and astronomy, as well as an initial 5 pages of theology.

Characteristic Markings

None of Lee's books have been identified.

Sources

• The library of the late reverend and learned Mr. Samuel Lee, [Boston, 1693], ESTC w19259.
• Poole, W. Wadham College books in the age of John Wilkins, 2014.
• Wallace,, Dewey D. "Lee, Samuel (1625?–1691), nonconformist minister and natural philosopher." Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.