Guide to the Correspondence of John Lee (as filmed by the AJCP), 1840-1865

Summary

Collection number:

M678

Creator:

Lee, John

Extent:

1 items

Language:

English

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Availability:

Available

Access conditions:

Available for reference.

Background

Content Summary:

The material filmed by the Australian Joint Copying Project includes correspondence from Charles Lee Smith and his brother John Lee Smith, Charles Rumker, John S. Roberts, Phillip P. King, George Witt, Bessie N. Parkes and William Stratford Lee.

Topics covered include: domestic and financial matters; dispatch of natural history specimens, events and conditions in the colony of Victoria; the business activities of A.B. Sparke of Sydney; cost of erecting an observatory and residence at Parramatta and the emigration of young ladies to Australia

Biographical / Historical:

John Lee (1783-1866) was born John Fiott, the son of John Fiott, a London merchant. In 1816 he changed his name to Lee on the death of his maternal uncle, William Lee, at the same time inheriting extensive estates in Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire. In 1827, on the death of his cousin Sir George Lee, 6th Baronet, he succeeded to the estate of Hartwell near Aylesbury in Buckinghamshire.,

Lee was educated at St John's College, Cambridge. He graduated as a Doctor of Law and was admitted to the College of Advocates in 1816. He practised at the courts of Doctors' Commons (the College of Civil Law) until they were abolished 1865. In addition to his legal activities and duties as a landlord, Lee had wide scientific and scholarly interests. He was a founding member of the Royal Astronomical Society (1824) and the Royal Geographical Society (1830), a fellow of the Royal Society, and a member of the Geological Society, Society of Arts, Society of Antiquaries of London and the Numismatic Society. In 1831 he erected an observatory at Hartwell House and he communicated with astronomers throughout Europe. In his young days, he had travelled widely in Europe and the Middle East and he built up an outstanding collection of books, manuscripts, coins, medals, rocks and fossils which was housed at Hartwell.

Charles and John Smith, who both emigrated to Melbourne, were the sons of Benjamin Smith, a colleague of John Lee at Doctors' Commons and a fellow of the Society of Antiquaries of London.

Carl Rumker (1788-1862) left Germany in 1809 and for ten years served in the navy of the East India Company and later the British Merchant Navy. He came to New South Wales in 1821 with Sir Thomas Brisbane and, under Brisbane's supervision, established the astronomical observatory at Parramatta. Governor Darling appointed him government astronomer in 1827. In 1830 he returned to Germany where he became director of the school of navigation and the observatory at Hamburg.

Related

Existence and Location of Copies:

The original AJCP microfilm of the records filmed from this collection is available at the National Library of Australia [https://nla.gov.au/nla.cat-vn2115972] as well as other institutions holding AJCP microfilm.

Existence and Location of Originals:

Buckinghamshire Record office, Aylesbury, England. Collection Reference: D-LE/H

In 1997 the Buckinghamshire Record Office merged with the Local Studies Library to form the Buckinghamshire Records and Local Studies Service. Its name was later changed to the Centre for Buckinghamshire Studies. Its current (2017) address is County Hall, Walton Street, Aylesbury HP20 1UU.

For more information see Papers of John Lee at the buckinghamshire Record Office (http://archives.buckscc.gov.uk/CalmView/default.aspx).

Conditions Governing Access:

Available for Access.

Conditions Governing Use:

Many of the records digitised as part of the AJCP are still in copyright. Readers wishing to publish or reproduce documents should seek permission, in the first instance, from the owner of the original material.

Preferred citation:

Acknowledgement of use of this material should refer to the location of the original material and to the Australian Joint Copying Project.

Items from this collection should include references to the location of the original material and to the AJCP nla.obj number, which serves as the online identifier for the digital copy.

Example: M Series: Journal of Capt. James Cook, 18 February 1770, British Library Add. MS 27885 (AJCP ref: http://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1234)

Location of this collection:

National Library of Australia

Parkes Place

Canberra ACT 2600, Australia

Contact:

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