Francis Lee

Francis Lee (12 March 1661 – 23 August 1719) was an English writer and physician, known for his connection with the Philadelphians. Early life Born at Cobham, Surrey on 12 March 1661, he was the fourth son of Edward Lee by his wife Frances. He entered Merchant Taylors' School on 11 September 1675, was admitted a scholar of St John's College, Oxford, on St. Barnabas day, 1679, proceeded B.A. on 9 May 1688, M.A. 19 March 1687, and was elected to a fellowship at St. John's in January 1682. In 1691 Lee became chaplain to John Stawell, 2nd Baron Stawell of Somerton in Somerset, and tutor to his son. He was also tutor to Sir William Dawes. At the Glorious Revolution he was a nonjuror, and failed to proceed B.D. in 1692 as the statutes directed. Lee left England in the summer of 1691. He studied medicine, and on 11 June 1692 entered the university of Leyden, after which he practised medicine in Venice. At this period Lee met Johann Georg Gichtel and Pierre Poiret. Follower of Jane Leade On his way home in 1694, Lee made the acquaintance in Holland of the writings of Jane Leade. He sought her out on his return to London, and became a devoted disciple. He arranged her manuscripts, published them with prefaces of his own, and supported her in her troubles. His elder brother, William, a dyer in Spitalfields, tried to break the connection, but about 1696 Lee, at Leade's suggestion, married her daughter Barbara Walton, a widow, and later lived in her house in Hogsden Square.