Sir Francis Henry Lee, 4th Baronet (17 January 1639 – 4 December 1667) was an English politician who sat in the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the 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 parliament. T ...

from 1660 to 1667. Lee was the son of Sir Francis Henry Lee, 2nd Baronet, of Quarrendon, Buckinghamshire, and his wife Hon. Anne St. John, daughter of

Sir John St John, 1st Baronet Sir John St John, 1st Baronet (5 November 1585 – 1648) of Lydiard Tregoze in the English county of Wiltshire, was a Member of Parliament and prominent Royalist during the English Civil War. He was created a baronet on 22 May 1611. Biography ...

Lydiard Tregoze Lydiard Tregoze is a small village and civil parish on the western edge of Swindon in the county of Wiltshire, in the south-west of England. It has in the past been spelt as Liddiard Tregooze and in many other ways. The parish includes the smal ...

, later Countess of Rochester. In 1659 he succeeded his brother Henry in the

baronetcy A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14th ...

.John Burke, John Bernard Burke ''A genealogical and heraldic history of the extinct and dormant baronetcies''
/ref> In 1660, Lee was elected

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...

for

Malmesbury Malmesbury () is a town and civil parish in north Wiltshire, England, which lies approximately west of Swindon, northeast of Bristol, and north of Chippenham. The older part of the town is on a hilltop which is almost surrounded by the upp ...

in the Convention Parliament. He was re-elected MP for Malmesbury in 1661 for the

Cavalier Parliament The Cavalier Parliament of England lasted from 8 May 1661 until 24 January 1679. It was the longest English Parliament, and longer than any Great British or UK Parliament to date, enduring for nearly 18 years of the quarter-century reign of C ...

and sat until his death in 1667Lee, Sir Henry Francis, 4th Bt.
/ref> Lee lived at

Ditchley Ditchley Park is a country house near Charlbury in Oxfordshire, England. The estate was once the site of a Roman villa. Later it became a royal hunting ground, and then the property of Sir Henry Lee of Ditchley. The 2nd Earl of Lichfield built ...

, Oxfordshire, and died at the age of 28. Lee married Lady Elizabeth Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe (later third wife of

Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey Robert Bertie, 3rd Earl of Lindsey PC FRS (8 November 1630 – 8 May 1701), styled Lord Willoughby de Eresby from 1642 to 1666, was an English nobleman. He was the son of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey and Martha Cokayne. He travelled on ...

).According to James William Johnson, titles and benefits traditionally held by the Lees were given to Lord Rochester after Frank's death. This action set up considerable legal wrangling, especially after the Dowager Countess of Rochester's death, when his son was granted possession of what had once been Wilmot possession
"My dearest sonne": Letters from the Countess of Rochester to the Earl of Lichfield
''University of Rochester Library Bulletin'' Volume XXVIII · Number 1 · Summer 1974. The identity of Frank's wife is not clear, because the Countess of Lindsey at this time was Lady Elizabeth Pope, daughter of Thomas Pope, 2nd Earl of Downe. Johnson refers to her mistakenly as Eleanor Bertie, Countess of Lindsey. He possibly confuses Elizabeth Pope with her husband's niece Eleanora or Ellen, Countess of Abingdon, married to another Bertie. His son Edward succeeded to the baronetcy and was later ennobled as

Earl of Lichfield Earl of Lichfield is a title that has been created three times, twice in the Peerage of England (1645 and 1674) and once in the Peerage of the United Kingdom (1831). The third creation is extant and is held by a member of the Anson family. Hi ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Francis 1639 births 1667 deaths Members of the Parliament of England for Malmesbury English MPs 1660 Baronets in the Baronetage of England English MPs 1661–1679