Family and Education

b. by 1492. m. ?Elizabeth, da. of one Tichborne, ?wid., 1da.2

Offices Held

Chamberlain, St. Giles’s fair for bp. of Winchester 1513-31.3

Biography

At least two men named Thomas Lee were prominent at Winchester in the early 16th century: in 1536 one was receiver of Hyde abbey in the city and another was its auditor. Given the connexions of other Winchester Members with the bishopric, it is likely that this Member was the Thomas Lee who served the bishop as chamberlain of St. Giles’s fair; if so, he was probably also the ‘Master Leye that was with my lord of Winchester’ in 1517. Lee was one of the wealthiest men at Winchester in 1524, with an assessment of £50 in goods. In that year he was appointed to oversee repairs in the city, he served as a subsidy assessor in 1535, and in 1538 he was one of those granted ‘full power and authority to examine, hear and determine all manner of matters concerning the city in the name of the whole body of the city’ for the coming year.4

A Thomas Lee made his will in September 1537; its date of probate is not known, but his widow Elizabeth was taxed in November 1544 and she drew up her own will in March 1545. Elizabeth Lee may have been related to the Hampshire branch of the Uvedale family by a previous marriage. If she was indeed the widow of the Member for Winchester, then he was not the Master Lee who was a servant of William Paulet, 1st Marquess of Winchester, in 1556-7.5

Ref Volumes: 1509-1558

Authors: Patricia Hyde / A. B. Rosen

Notes

• 1. Hants RO, Winchester chamberlains’ accts.
• 2. Date of birth estimated from first reference. Vis. Hants (Harl. Soc. lxiv), 38; VCH Surr. iv. 340.
• 3. Eccles. 2/155861-75.
• 4. E315/400, p. 26; LP Hen. VIII, ii; E179/173/172; Black bk. of Winchester, ed. Bird, 137, 155, 161.
• 5. Hants RO, wills 1537, 1544; E179/173/229B; VCH Surr. iv. 340; Hants RO, Winchester chamberlains’ accts. 3 and 4-4 and 5 Phil. and Mary.