Sir Henry Austin Lee, (6 April 1847 − 7 November 1918) was a British diplomat, governor and landowner. He was counselor of embassy, commercial attache for

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

Belgium Belgium, officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. Situated in a coastal lowland region known as the Low Countries, it is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeas ...

, and

Switzerland Switzerland, officially the Swiss Confederation, is a landlocked country located in west-central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the south, France to the west, Germany to the north, and Austria and Liechtenstein to the east. Switzerland ...

. He was a tenant of the Channel Island of

Jethou Jethou ( ) is a small island that is part of the Bailiwick of Guernsey in the Channel Islands. It is privately leased from the Crown, and not open to the public. Resembling the top of a wooded knoll, it is immediately southwest of Herm and co ...

from 1890 until his death; he was succeeded as tenant of Jethou by

Compton Mackenzie Sir Edward Montague Compton Mackenzie, (17 January 1883 – 30 November 1972) was a Scottish writer of fiction, biography, histories and a memoir, as well as a cultural commentator, raconteur and lifelong Scottish nationalist. He was one of t ...

. Henry Austin Lee was born 6 April 1847 in

Colombo Colombo, ( ; , ; , ), is the executive and judicial capital and largest city of Sri Lanka by population. The Colombo metropolitan area is estimated to have a population of 5.6 million, and 752,993 within the municipal limits. It is the ...

British Ceylon British Ceylon (; ), officially British Settlements and Territories in the Island of Ceylon with its Dependencies from 1802 to 1833, then the Island of Ceylon and its Territories and Dependencies from 1833 to 1931 and finally the Island of Cey ...

, the second son of George Lee, the Postmaster General of Ceylon (1844-1860) and Martha née Austin. He was educated at

Elizabeth College, Guernsey The Royal College of Elizabeth, better known as Elizabeth College, is a co-educational independent school in Saint Peter Port, Guernsey. A member of the HMC (The Heads' Conference), it is a public school in the British sense of the term. Founde ...

, and then went to

Pembroke College, Oxford Pembroke College, a constituent college of the University of Oxford, is located on Pembroke Square, Oxford. The college was founded in 1624 by King James I of England and VI of Scotland, using in part the endowment of merchant Thomas Tesdale ...

. He joined the

Foreign Office Foreign may refer to: Government * Foreign policy, how a country interacts with other countries * Ministry of Foreign Affairs, in many countries ** Foreign Office, a department of the UK government ** Foreign office and foreign minister * United ...

in 1870. In 1871 he was appointed to the

; where he served as a protocolist to the Sugar Conference in London in 1872 ; appointed British Commissioner in Paris, under article XXI of the Treaty of Commerce in November 1872 ; acted as Third Secretary in the Diplomatic Service from 6 August 1873. He was attached to the Embassy in Paris from November 1872 to July 1875. After serving on the joint Channel-Tunnel Commission in April 1875, he was appointed with Sir

Edward Malet Sir Edward Baldwin Malet, 4th Baronet (10 October 1837 – 29 June 1908) was a British diplomat. Edward Malet came from a family of diplomats; his father was Sir Alexander Malet, British minister to Württemberg and later to the German Co ...

to negotiate the renewal of the Treaty of Commerce with Italy; was attached to the Marquis of Salisbury, Robert Gascoyne-Cecil's Special Embassy to Constantinople, in November 1876, and to the special Embassy during the Congress at Berlin in June 1878, as Private Secretary to the Earl of Beaconsfield,

Benjamin Disraeli Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman, Conservative Party (UK), Conservative politician and writer who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a ...

. He was Private Secretary to Sir

Charles Wentworth Dilke Charles Wentworth Dilke (1789–1864) was an English liberal critic and writer on literature. Professional life He served for many years in the Navy Pay-Office, on retiring from which in 1830 he devoted himself to literary pursuits. Lite ...

, at the Foreign Office from 1880 to 1882; was a member, in 1881, of the Royal Commission for negotiating a Treaty of Commerce with France; was Private Secretary to Lord Edmond Fitzmaurice from 1883 to 1885, to

James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce James Bryce, 1st Viscount Bryce, (10 May 1838 – 22 January 1922), was a British academic, jurist, historian, and Liberal politician. According to Keith Robbins, he was a widely traveled authority on law, government, and history whose expe ...

, in 1886, and to

Sir James Fergusson James Fergusson may refer to: Politics *Sir James Fergusson, 6th Baronet (1832–1907), Governor of South Australia, New Zealand and Bombay *Sir James Fergusson, 8th Baronet (1904–1973), Lord Lieutenant of Ayrshire *Sir James Fergusson, Lord Ki ...

, from 1886 to 1887. In December 1887 he was appointed Second Secretary to the Paris Embassy and acted as Private Secretary to the Ambassador,

Robert Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton Edward Robert Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Earl of Lytton, (8 November 1831 – 24 November 1891), was an English statesman, Conservative politician and poet who used the pseudonym Owen Meredith. During his tenure as Viceroy of India between 1876 ...

. In 1891 he was selected to represent the British Government on the Council of the

Suez Canal Company Suez (, , , ) is a seaport city with a population of about 800,000 in north-eastern Egypt, located on the north coast of the Gulf of Suez on the Red Sea, near the southern terminus of the Suez Canal. It is the capital and largest city of the ...

. In February 1892 he was appointed First Secretary in the Diplomatic Service and on the appointment of the Frederick Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood, Marquis of Dufferin and Ava as Ambassador in Paris, Lee became his Private Secretary, and continued in that capacity until the Hamilton-Temple-Blackwood's retirement in October 1896, when he was appointed Commercial Attache to Embassy in the place of Sir Joseph Archer Crowe. In 1892 he married Madeleine de Wolf Smith, daughter of Benjamin Franklin Smith and widow of Arthur Taylor. He was appointed a Companion of the

Order of the Bath The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by King George I of Great Britain, George I on 18 May 1725. Recipients of the Order are usually senior British Armed Forces, military officers or senior Civil Service ...

(CB) in the 1892 New Year Honours. He was knighted as a Knight Commander of the

Order of St Michael and St George The Most Distinguished Order of Saint Michael and Saint George is a British order of chivalry founded on 28 April 1818 by George, Prince of Wales (the future King George IV), while he was acting as prince regent for his father, King George III ...

(KCMG) in the November

1902 Birthday Honours The 1902 Birthday Honours were announced on 10 November 1902, to celebrate the birthday of Edward VII the previous day. The list included appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and the British Empire. The list was publi ...

list, and was invested with the insignia by King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

Buckingham Palace Buckingham Palace () is a royal official residence, residence in London, and the administrative headquarters of the monarch of the United Kingdom. Located in the City of Westminster, the palace is often at the centre of state occasions and r ...

on 18 December 1902.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Henry Ambassadors of the United Kingdom to France Companions of the Order of the Bath Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George 1847 births 1918 deaths People educated at Elizabeth College, Guernsey Alumni of Pembroke College, Oxford British landowners People from British Ceylon 19th-century British businesspeople