Sir Frank Godbould Lee (26 August 1903 – 23 April 1971) was a British public servant and Master of

Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Corpus Christi College (full name: "The College of Corpus Christi and the Blessed Virgin Mary", often shortened to "Corpus"), is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. From the late 14th century through to the early 19th century ...

. Lee was born in

Colchester Colchester ( ) is a city in Essex, in the East of England. It had a population of 122,000 in 2011. The demonym is Colcestrian. Colchester occupies the site of Camulodunum, the first major city in Roman Britain and its first capital. Colches ...

Essex Essex () is a county in the East of England. One of the home counties, it borders Suffolk and Cambridgeshire to the north, the North Sea to the east, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent across the estuary of the River Thames to the south, and G ...

, in 1903 and educated at Brentwood School and

Downing College, Cambridge Downing College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge and currently has around 650 students. Founded in 1800, it was the only college to be added to Cambridge University between 1596 and 1869, and is often described as the olde ...

, where he read English. After

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cambridge bec ...

he joined the

civil service The civil service is a collective term for a sector of government composed mainly of career civil servants hired on professional merit rather than appointed or elected, whose institutional tenure typically survives transitions of political leaders ...

in the

Colonial Office The Colonial Office was a government department of the Kingdom of Great Britain and later of the United Kingdom, first created to deal with the colonial affairs of British North America but required also to oversee the increasing number of col ...

where he stayed from 1926 until 1940. He then moved to the

Treasury A treasury is either *A government department related to finance and taxation, a finance ministry. *A place or location where treasure, such as currency or precious items are kept. These can be state or royal property, church treasure or in p ...

and was

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary (also known as a principal secretary) is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day ...

to the Ministry of Food when he was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of knighthood by a head of state (including the Pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the Christian denomination, church or the country, especially in a military capacity. Knighthood ...

in January 1950. In 1951 he became Permanent Secretary to the

Board of Trade The Board of Trade is a British government body concerned with commerce and industry, currently within the Department for International Trade. Its full title is The Lords of the Committee of the Privy Council appointed for the consideration of ...

, before eventually moving back to the Treasury and becoming Joint Permanent Secretary. In 1958, he delivered the Stamp memorial lecture, on the subject of The Board of Trade, which was subsequently published as a monograph by The University of London. On 2 October 1962 he was made a

privy councillor A privy council is a body that advises the head of state of a state, typically, but not always, in the context of a monarchic government. The word "privy" means "private" or "secret"; thus, a privy council was originally a committee of the mon ...

. He retired from the civil service in 1962 and was appointed Master of Corpus Christi College Cambridge, a post he held until his death in 1971. The Frank Lee Leisure Centre in Cambridge is named in his honour.

References

1903 births 1971 deaths Alumni of Downing College, Cambridge Fellows of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Knights Commander of the Order of the Bath Knights Grand Cross of the Order of St Michael and St George Masters of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom People associated with the University of East Anglia People educated at Brentwood School, Essex Permanent Secretaries of the Board of Trade Permanent Secretaries of HM Treasury Permanent Secretaries of the Ministry of Food {{England-academic-administrator-stub