Weaste Cemetery

Biographies of people buried between 1890 & 99

Rev. James Lee (1823 - 1893)


James Lee was a Congregational/Independent Minister of Religion who spent about 10 years in Salford, including being Principal of College School, Broughton, Salford.


He was born in 1823 at Newmarket, Cambridgeshire (now in Suffolk). His father was William Lee (1780 – 1823) who was the Minister of the Independent Chapel there. Previously, William had studied at Gosport Academy in Hampshire, graduating 1807. In the same year, William married Susannah Rowe at Petersfield, Hampshire before embarking for their missionary work in India. William, Susannah and children suffered greatly from Cholera and returned to England in 1818. William died in 1823, aged 42.


James Lee studied to become a Congregational Minister at Homerton College, Hackney, London. In 1853, he married Sarah Corney at Romford Essex. She was aged 23 and the daughter of George Corney (1794 – 1862) another Congregational Minister and Mary Ann Stone (1792 – 1864), both of whom were buried at Weaste Cemetery.


James had several Ministerial appointments which is indicated by their children's birth places. Their children were; William Corney Lee (born 1856 in Portishead, Somerset, married Margaret Bower Corbishley in 1886 in Blackpool who died in 1891, then married her sister Ada Beatrice Corbishley in 1893 in Stockport); George Henry (born 1856 at Crick, Northamptonshire and died in Stretford, Manchester in 1927 aged 70); James Frederick (born 1859 in Salford and died 1860 aged 7 months); Charles Robert (born 1862 in Salford and died in 1949 in Stretford aged 87); Sarah Susannah (born 1864 in Salford and died in 1916 in Stretford, aged 52); Mary Ann (born 1868 in Salford and died 1952 in Stockport Cheshire aged 84); and Edith Emily (born 1870 at Crayford, near Bexley Heath, Kent and died in 1906 in Stretford, aged 35).


The 1861 census shows that the family lived at Camp Street, Broughton, Salford. James was described as an Independent Minister, but an advert in the Guardian of 16th July 1864 shows that he is also Principal of College School, Broughton. The advert says "This Institution which was originated a little more than five years ago, in a vicinity abounding with kindred establishments, has received from the first a marked and extensive patronage." An advert in the Guardian on 21st July 1866 show that "the school's name will be changed to Broughton College."


By 1871 the family lived at Spring Cottage, May Place Road, Crayford, Kent. But later in 1871, James was Minister of the Wycliffe Congregational Church, Wellington Road North, Stockport Cheshire. The Church history says "1871 – 1873, Rev James Lee MA joined Wycliffe aged 48 at the end of 1871 and lived at 7, Hawthorn Grove, Heaton Moor.  He had been Minister of five other chapels before Wycliffe." In 1881, the census shows the family at Warwick Terrace, 9 Chester Road, Stretford and in 1891 at 1, Brunswick Street, Stretford where James, now 68, was a Minister without a Charge.


On 22nd July 1893 James Lee died at Newcastle-upon-Tyne aged 70. He was buried at Weaste Cemetery A5/Diss/397 on 25th July. Sarah died on 25th January 1896 at Stretford aged 65 and was re-united with James at Weaste Cemetery.