LEE, MATTHEW, son of William Lee, Northampton; b. 1694; adm.; Min. Can. 1708; QS 1709; elected to Christ Church, Oxford 1713, matr. 23 Jun 1713, aged 18, Westminster Student 22 Dec 1713 – Nov 1720, Faculty Student 18 Nov 1720 – void by marriage 7 Jul 1730; BA 1717; MA 1720; MB 1722; MD 1726; medical practitioner successively in Oxford and in London; MRCP 1731, FRCP 1732, Censor 1734, Harveian Orator 1736; Physician to Frederick, Prince of Wales, Oct 1741-51; by his will dated 27 Aug 1755 he bequeathed a large sum of money to Christ Church for the benefit of the Westminster Students, and also for the erection of a School of Anatomy and for the endowment of a Readership in Anatomy; m. 1730 Sarah, youngest dau. of John Knapp, Little Linford, Bucks.; d. 26 Sep 1755. DNB.
By his will dated 27 Aug 1755 (proved 8 Oct 1755) he left certain estates to the Dean and Chapter of Christ Church, Oxford, in trust for various purposes including exhibitions for the Westminster Students of Christ Church. The estates subsequently increased greatly in value, and the application of the income was altered more than once by decree of the Court of Chancery. By the ordinance attached to the Christ Church (Oxford) Ordinances Act 1867 £1260 of the annual income was directed to be applied, with other funds, towards the maintenance of the Westminster Junior Studentships at Christ Church.
For Lee’s bequest to Christ Church, Oxford, see E.G.W.Bill, op.cit., pp 104-5. The bequest to Christ Church amounted to approximately £30,000, out of which a fund of £50 was set up for the better support of the Westminster Students during the first year after their election, and Lee’s bequest also funded a number of exhibitions (four of which were specifically ‘mathematical’) for Westminster Students nominated by the Dean and Chapter. These “were worth £10 a year and were tenable for a maximum of eight years”, and were awarded to nearly every Westminster Student, and “from about 1786 the exhibitions were usually given some two years after matriculation”. The “Lee foundation was very wealthy” and the value of these exhibitions were increased to £30 a year in 1807.
