Elizabeth Lee (1857 – 8 July 1920) was an English teacher, literary critic, biographer and translator. She was secretary of the

English Association The English Association is a subject association for English dedicated to furthering the study and enjoyment of English language and literature in schools, higher education institutes and amongst the public in general. It was founded in 1906 by ...

for five years in the early twentieth century and was awarded the honour of '' Officier d'Académie'' by the French government for her work in education. She was the sister of Sir Sidney Lee and, under his editorship, wrote several biographies of women for the ''

Dictionary of National Biography The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...

''. Her other writings covered the subjects of education, French literature and biographies.

Biography

Lee was born in London, the older sister of

Sidney Lee Sir Sidney Lee (5 December 1859 – 3 March 1926) was an English biographer, writer, and critic. Biography Lee was born Solomon Lazarus Lee in 1859 at 12 Keppel Street, Bloomsbury, London. He was educated at the City of London School , ...

. The family name was Levy. She was educated at

Queen's College, London Queen's College is an independent school for girls aged 11–18 with an adjoining prep school for girls aged 4–11 located in the City of Westminster, London. Founded in 1848 by theologian and social reformer Frederick Denison Maurice along wit ...

. After leaving school, she began teaching English to girls in

secondary schools A secondary school describes an institution that provides secondary education and also usually includes the building where this takes place. Some secondary schools provide both '' lower secondary education'' (ages 11 to 14) and ''upper seconda ...

, a career she maintained all of her life. From 1907 to 1912, she was secretary of the

. While in this post, she studied education methods on the continent and published the pamphlet ''The Teaching of Literature in French and German Secondary Schools''. On 1 November 1909 the French Minister of Public Instruction made her Officier d'Académie. In addition to education, Lee wrote frequently about French literature and biographies of women. For several years, she contributed an article about French literature to every issue of '' The Library''. She published books such as ''Ouida: a Memoir'' (1914) and ''Lives of the Wives of Queen Victoria's Prime Ministers'' (1917). One of her major works was the writing of over eighty biographies of women for the ''

'', which was edited by her younger brother Sir Sidney Lee. She also aided her brother with his other works, including correcting the proofs and compiling the index for his ''Life of William Shakespeare'' (1905, 5th edition). Elizabeth Lee died at the age of 62 in her home in

Kensington Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London. The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...

on Saturday, 8 July 1920. She was cremated at

Golders Green Crematorium Golders Green Crematorium and Mausoleum was the first crematorium to be opened in London, and one of the oldest crematoria in Britain. The land for the crematorium was purchased in 1900, costing £6,000 (the equivalent of £135,987 in 2021), ...

on the following Tuesday, 13 July.

Bibliography

* ''Humour of France'' (1893) * ''

'' (81 entries, 1885-1900 and the 1901 supplement) * ''The English Novel in the Time of Shakespeare'' (1890 translation, original by

J. J. Jusserand Jean Adrien Antoine Jules Jusserand (18 February 1855 – 18 July 1932) was a French author and diplomat. He was the French Ambassador to the United States 1903-1925 and played a major diplomatic role during World War I. Birth and education ...

) * ''The Teaching of Literature in French and German Secondary Schools'' (1911) * ''A School History of English Literature'' (3 vols) * ''Selections from English Literature'' (4 vols) * ''Ouida: a Memoir'' (1914) * ''Lives of the Wives of Queen Victoria's Prime Ministers'' (1917) * '' The Library'' (multiple articles)

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Elizabeth 1857 births 1920 deaths English biographers Schoolteachers from London People educated at Queen's College, London English women educators 19th-century English women writers Date of birth missing English Jewish writers Teachers of English 20th-century English women writers