Henry Lee ( 1657 – 6 September 1734) of Dungeon, Canterbury, was an English Tory politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the Bicameralism, bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of ...

in three periods between 1685 and 1715. Lee was the son of Dr John Lee, Archdeacon of Rochester, and his third wife Anne English, daughter of Henry English of Maidstone. His father later took the name of Warner by Act of Parliament under the terms of the will of his uncle,

John Warner John William Warner III (February 18, 1927 – May 25, 2021) was an American lawyer and politician who served as the United States Secretary of the Navy from 1972 to 1974 and as a five-term United States Republican Party, Republican United Stat ...

Bishop of Rochester The Bishop of Rochester is the Ordinary (officer), ordinary of the Church of England's Diocese of Rochester in the Province of Canterbury. The town of Rochester, Kent, Rochester has the bishop's seat, at the Rochester Cathedral, Cathedral Chur ...

. He matriculated at

Balliol College, Oxford Balliol College () is a constituent college of the University of Oxford. Founded in 1263 by nobleman John I de Balliol, it has a claim to be the oldest college in Oxford and the English-speaking world. With a governing body of a master and aro ...

, on 4 July 1673, aged 16. He married Dorothy Howe, daughter of

Sir George Howe, 1st Baronet Sir George Grobham Howe, 1st Baronet (c. 1627 – 26 September 1676), was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons of England, House of Commons from 1660 to 1676. Howe was the son of George Howe (d. 1647) of Berwick St Leonard, ...

, and his wife Elizabeth Grimstone, daughter of

Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet Sir Harbottle Grimston, 2nd Baronet (27 January 1603 – 2 January 1685) was an English lawyer and politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1640 and 1685 and was Speaker in 1660. During the English Civil War he remain ...

, on 16 October 1679. Lee purchased the manor of Dungeon in Kent.''Canterbury: Manors'', The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 11 (1800), pp. 147-164. Date accessed: 19 November 2010
/ref> He became an alderman of Canterbury and in March 1685 was elected Member of Parliament (MP) for

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, in the county of Kent, England; it was a county borough until 1974. It lies on the River Stour, Kent, River Stour. The city has a mild oceanic climat ...

as a Tory. In 1687 he was elected

Mayor of Canterbury Canterbury was granted a city charter in 1448 which gave it the right to have a mayor and a sheriff. The city's web site records that King Henry VI decreed that the City should be "of one Mayor and one commonalty, wholly corporate for ever". Th ...

, but dismissed from office by order of King James II. However he was re-elected MP for Canterbury in 1689 and held the seat until 1695. He was

Colonel Colonel ( ; abbreviated as Col., Col, or COL) is a senior military Officer (armed forces), officer rank used in many countries. It is also used in some police forces and paramilitary organizations. In the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries, a colon ...

of a regiment of the

Kent Militia The Kent Militia was an auxiliary military force in the county of Kent in South East England. From their formal organisation as Trainband, Trained Bands in 1558 until their final service as the Special Reserve, the Militia (United Kingdom), Mili ...

in 1697.Col George Jackson Hay, ''An Epitomized History of the Militia (The Constitutional Force)'', London:United Service Gazette, 1905, p. 377.
/ref> He was MP for Canterbury again from 1698 until he was defeated at the

1708 British general election The 1708 British general election was the first general election to be held after the Acts of Union had united the Parliaments of England and Scotland. The election saw the Whigs gain a majority in the House of Commons, and by November the Whi ...

. In 1704 he was appointed a Commissioner of Victualling. He was returned again for Canterbury at the

1710 British general election The 1710 British general election produced a landslide victory for the Tories. The election came in the wake of the prosecution of Henry Sacheverell, which had led to the collapse of the previous government led by Godolphin and the Whig Junto. ...

and was appointed a Commissioner for Victualling again in 1711. He was returned again at the 1713 general election but was defeated in

1715 Events For dates within Great Britain and the British Empire, as well as in the Russian Empire, the "old style" Julian calendar was used in 1715, and can be converted to the "new style" Gregorian calendar (adopted in the British Empire in ...

. Lee died on 6 September 1734. His son Henry Lee Warner, who was MP for Hindon, pulled down the mansion of the Dungeon.

References

1650s births 1734 deaths Year of birth uncertain Politics of Canterbury Mayors of Canterbury Kent Militia officers English MPs 1685–1687 English MPs 1689–1690 English MPs 1690–1695 English MPs 1698–1700 English MPs 1701 English MPs 1701–1702 English MPs 1702–1705 English MPs 1705–1707 Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies British MPs 1707–1708 British MPs 1710–1713 British MPs 1713–1715 {{1698-England-MP-stub