William Lee (1812–1891) was an English civil and sanitary engineer. He is now best known in his role as biographer and bibliographer of

Daniel Defoe Daniel Defoe (; born Daniel Foe; – 24 April 1731) was an English writer, trader, journalist, pamphleteer and spy. He is most famous for his novel ''Robinson Crusoe'', published in 1719, which is claimed to be second only to the Bible in its ...

Life

He was born in

Sheffield Sheffield is a city status in the United Kingdom, city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is Historic counties o ...

, and became Surveyor of Highways. He was one of the inspectors recruited by

Edwin Chadwick Sir Edwin Chadwick KCB (24 January 18006 July 1890) was an English social reformer who is noted for his leadership in reforming the Poor Laws in England and instituting major reforms in urban sanitation and public health. A disciple of Uti ...

in promoting his General Board of Health. P. N. Furbank and W. R. Owens (1988), ''The Canonisation of Daniel Defoe'' p. 62. Lee was Secretary of the Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society from 1845 to 1850. John Holland was a friend.

Work on Defoe

He wrote numerous contributions to ''

Notes and Queries ''Notes and Queries'', also styled ''Notes & Queries'', is a long-running quarterly scholarly journal that publishes short articles related to " English language and literature, lexicography, history, and scholarly antiquarianism".From the inne ...

'' on Defoe: *http://english.illinoisstate.edu/digitaldefoe/multimedia/leeservitude.pdf *http://english.illinoisstate.edu/digitaldefoe/multimedia/leemoralvii.pdf *http://english.illinoisstate.edu/digitaldefoe/multimedia/leev.pdf *http://english.illinoisstate.edu/digitaldefoe/multimedia/leevii.pdf *http://english.illinoisstate.edu/digitaldefoe/multimedia/leeviii.pdf

George Saintsbury George Edward Bateman Saintsbury, FBA (23 October 1845 – 28 January 1933), was an English critic, literary historian, editor, teacher, and wine connoisseur. He is regarded as a highly influential critic of the late 19th and early 20th centu ...

found Lee's attributions impressionistic; they brought the number of works credited to Defoe to 254, of which 64 were novel attributions.

William Peterfield Trent William Peterfield Trent, LL.D., D.C.L. (10 November 1862 – 7 December 1939) was an American academic and the author/editor of many books. He was a professor of English (language), English literature at Sewanee: The University of the South and ...

wrote that Lee's researches were set off by the discovery of correspondence showing that Defoe had worked as a government agent. Furbank and Owens state that Lee was motivated by the dislike he had for the radical Defoe portrayed by Walter Wilson.''The Defoe that never was: a tale of de-attribution''
/ref>

Other works

*''On Modern Carriageways: Being a Paper Read Before The Sheffield Literary and Philosophical Society, on Friday, November 3, 1843'' (1843)

External links

Table of 19th-century critical work on Defoe (PDF)
*http://english.illinoisstate.edu/digitaldefoe/multimedia/date.html

Notes

{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, William 1812 births 1891 deaths English civil engineers English bibliographers