The son of Captain Pincke Lee, of Woolley Firs, Maidenhead Thicket. He entered King's College, London, as a student in 1833, but transferred to St George's Hospital in 1834, where he became one of the first, if not the first, Surgical Registrar, and later Curator of the Museum and Lecturer in Physiology. Seeing that promotion was slow at St George's Hospital, he gladly took the opportunity of connecting himself with the newly-founded King's College Hospital, where he was appointed Assistant Surgeon in 1847. About the same time he also became Surgeon to the Lock Hospital, and laid the foundation for his reputation as a syphilologist. In 1861 there were two vacancies on the staff at St George's Hospital, caused by the simultaneous resignation of Caesar Hawkins (qv) and E Cutler (qv). Henry Gray (qv) proposed to stand, but died from confluent small-pox. Lee consented then to transfer back to St George's Hospital, and he and Timothy Holmes (qv) were elected. Two years later, in 1863, Lee became full Surgeon and retired in 1878, at the age of 60, to make way for junior men, his immediate successor being T Pickering Pick (qv). Lee's connection with the Royal College of Surgeons was long and honourable. He was awarded the Jacksonian Prize in 1849 with a dissertation "On the Causes, Consequences and Treatment of Purulent Deposits"; he was a Member of Council 1870-1878, and in 1875 delivered the Museum Lectures on Surgery and Pathology as Hunterian Professor, his subject being "Syphilis and Local Diseases affecting principally the Organs of Generation". Lee is to be remembered as a pathologist, a syphilologist, and a surgeon. He was a disciple of Brodie, and an ardent admirer and follower of the teaching of John Hunter. His contemporary and old friend, Holmes, who wrote his obituary notice in the *Lancet*, was of the opinion that his works most likely to stand the test of time were his treatise on practical pathology, his lectures on syphilis at the Royal College of Surgeons, and his treatise on venereal diseases in Holmes's *System of Surgery*. In addition to these he was the author of many works and contributions to scientific journals. He was always interested in the diseases of veins, and revived one of the most successful of the palliative operations which were in use for the treatment of varicocele and varicose veins in the period before the introduction of antiseptic surgery enabled surgeons to use the methods of excision and injection. This method consisted in blocking the circulation in the vein in two places by pins thrust under its course with a figure-of-eight ligature wound about each, and then dividing the vein subcutaneously between the pins. In 1856 he read a paper at the Medico-Chirurgical Society on "Calomel Fumigation in Primary, Secondary and Tertiary Syphilis", which was claimed as a real and important improvement on the current practice of the administration of mercury. Lee retired in 1878, living for twenty years afterwards. He died at his residence, 61 Queensborough Terrace, Hyde Park, on June 11th, 1898. He was twice married, and was survived by his widow and by daughters of both marriages; his only son predeceased him. A fine portrait of Lee, by James Sant, RA, hangs in the Secretary's room of the Royal College of Surgeons, and his bust by Brock is in the Hall. Publications: *On Diseases of the Veins, Haemorrhoidal Tumours, and other Affections of the Rectum*, 8vo, 2nd ed, London, 1846. "Statistical Analysis of One Hundred and Sixty-six Cases of Secondary Syphilis observed at the Lock Hospital, 1838-9," 8vo, London, 1849; reprinted from *Lond Jour of Med*. *On the Origin of Inflammation of the Veins, and on the Causes, Consequences and Treatment of Purulent Deposits*, Jacksonian Prize Essay, 1849, 8vo, plate, London, 1850. The original MS of this essay is in the Royal College of Surgeons' Library. *Pathological and Surgical Observations, including a Short Course of Lectures delivered at the Lock Hospital, and an Essay on the Surgical Treatment of Haemorrhoidal Tumours*, 8vo, 2 plates, London, 1854. *An Essay on the Surgical Treatment of Haemorrhoidal Tumours; read before the Medical Society of London*, Feb 11th, 1854, 8vo, London, 1854. *On the Radical Cure of Varicocele by Subcutaneous Incision*, 8vo, London, 1860. *On General Principles in Medicine: an Introductory Address, delivered at St George's Hospital*, 1863, 8vo, London, 1863. *Lectures on Syphilitic and Vaccino-syphilitic Inoculations: their Prevention, Diagnosis and Treatment*, 2nd ed, 8vo, 5 plates, London, 1863; translated into French by EMILE BAUDOT, 1865, and into Portuguese by MARQUES, 1863. *Lectures on some Subjects connected with Practical Pathology and Surgery*, 2 vols, 3rd ed, 8vo, London, 1870. *Lectures on Syphilis, and on some Forms of Local Disease affecting principally the Organs of Generation*, 8vo, London, 1875. *On Syphilitic Inoculation*, 1862. "Syphilis" and "Gonorrhoea" in Holmes's *Surgery*, 1st, 2nd, and 3rd editions; also "Venereal Diseases" in 3rd edition. "Phlebitis" and "Diseases of the Veins" in Cooper's *Surgical Dictionary*. *Phlebitis*, 1850. "Secondary Deposits and Mortification from Diseases of the Arteries." - *Brit and For Med-Chir Rev*, 1857, xx, 214. "Mercurial Fumigation in the Treatment of Syphilis." - *Med-Chir Trans*, 1856, xxxix, 339. "Abscesses and Purulent Infiltration of Bone." - *Lond Jour of Med*, 1851-2. "On Repair after Injuries to Arteries and Veins" (with L S BEALE). - *Med-Chir Trans*, 1867, 1, 477. "On the Tapetum Lucidum and the Functions of the Fourth Pair of Nerves," 8vo, London, 1887; reprinted from *Med-Chir Trans*, 1886, lxix, 239, and *Lancet*, 1886, i, 203.