Extinct baronetcy in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom
There have been four baronetcies created for people with the surname Lee, all extinct.
Lee baronets, of Quarendon, Buckinghamshire (1611–1776)
This branch of the family owned
Ditchley House, current home of the
Ditchley Foundation. The last male heir of the Lees of Quarendon, was the 4th Earl of Lichfield
Robert Lee, a grandson of
Charles II. When he died childless in 1776, the title became extinct.[1]
Sir Henry Lee, 1st Bt., of Quarendon, later of
Ditchley (died by 1632). Heir, cousin and namesake of Master of the Royal Armouries Sir
Henry Lee . His widow Eleanor Wortley (dau of Sir Richard Wortley of Wortley) married a Parliamentarian in 1633, after inveighing against her son's marriage to a St. John. Her remarriage removed much of the Lee family income during her lifetime.
Sir Francis Henry Lee, 2nd Bt., of Quarendon (1616–1639, died of smallpox aged 23). He married October 1632
Hon. Anne St. John (b. 5 November 1614; buried 18 March 1696, aged 82) later Countess of Rochester, as her first husband, and had issue 2 sons (and one daughter who died young in 1640) by her.
Sir Henry Lee, 3rd Bt. (born ca. 1633; died 1659 of smallpox like his father); he married ca. 1655 Ann Danvers (d. 1659 in childbirth), daughter of Sir
John Danvers, a prominent Puritan neighbor at Cornbury and Chelsea and regicide of King Charles I. They had two daughters who were co-heiresses –
Eleanora, or Ellen (died 31 May 1691 or 1692), who married 1 February 1672 to
Lord Norreys who became
Earl of Abingdon in 1682, and[2]
Sir Edward Lee 5th Bart of Quarendon. King Charles II created him 2nd Baron Spilsbury, Viscount Quarendon and
Earl of Litchfield in anticipation of his marriage (1677) to the king's natural daughter
Lady Charlotte Fitzroy. The marriage was arranged circa 1674 by his formidable grandmother
Anne St. John, Countess of Rochester. They had several children, of whom only a few survived to adulthood. Lichfield replaced his popular cousin by marriage
Lord Abingdon as Lord Lieutenant of Oxfordshire briefly in the years 1687–1689 during the reign of
James II.
George Lee, 3rd Earl of Lichfield, 7th Baronet (21 May 1718 – 19 September 1772) died without issue; he was succeeded by his next surviving uncle.
Robert Lee, 4th Earl of Lichfield, 8th and last Baronet (3 July 1706 – 3 November 1776) died without issue, leading to the extinction of the earldom and baronetcy. Grandson of Charles II. Ditchley house passed to his niece and then to her son
Charles Dillon, 12th Viscount Dillon
Lee baronets, of Langley (1620–1666)
The baronetcy was created on 3 May 1620 for Humphry Lee.[5]
The Lee Baronetcy, of Lukyns in the County of
Surrey was created in the
Baronetage of the United Kingdom on 30 January 1941 for Kenneth Lee. With his death in 1967, the
baronetcy became extinct.
^According to James William Johnson, titles and benefits traditionally held by the Lees were given to Lord Rochester after Frank's death. This action set up considerable legal wrangling, especially after the Dowager Countess of Rochester's death, when his son was granted possession of what had once been Wilmot possessions>
"My dearest sonne": Letters from the Countess of Rochester to the Earl of LichfieldUniversity of Rochester Library Bulletin Volume XXVIII • Number 1 • Summer 1974. The identity of Frank's wife is not clear, because the
Countess of Lindsey at this time was Lady Elizabeth Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe. Johnson refers to her mistakenly as Eleanor Bertie, Countess of Lindsey. He possibly confuses Elizabeth Pope with her husband's niece Eleanora or Ellen, Countess of Abingdon, married to another Bertie. For details, see
Bertie genealogy and the associated Pope genealogy.