Dennis Lee
Born 1816 (Circa)
Died 27 May 1873
Active: 1841 - 1871
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor, statuary, marble mason, builder
Born in Haby, Yorkshire. He worked as a stone and marble mason as well as a sculptor. Between about 1851 and 1870 Lee had a business partnership with the stonemason, marble merchant and sculptor, Anthony Welsh (1823-1891). Together they developed and patented "improvements in means or machinery for preparing or polishing marble" (patent no. 1505, 21 June 1860). The firm was very successful for a period and around 1861 was employing about 46 men and boys. However on 3 July 1863 their patent lapsed due to a failure to pay £50 Stamp Duty. Lee and Welsh created a number of busts, statues and funerary monuments in the Leeds area which are listed in Roscoe (2009). They also supplied plinths and cleaned statues for the Leeds Town Hall Committee. The partnership between the two men was dissolved on 22 June 1870. Sometime in the late 1860s Lee retired to Guernsey and Welsh continued in business under his own name. Dennis Lee's retirement was short-lived; he died in Leeds in 1873.
This record includes information submitted by Jayne Jackson, a descendent of Anthony Hunt Welsh (son of Anthony Welsh).
Wealth at death: £100 0s. 0d.
Probate date: 3 November 1874
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Locations
Address Bridge Street Leeds | View on map
1841 (Circa)
Address 42 Cobourg Street Leeds | View on map
1851 (Circa)
Address Cambridge Villa Rouge Rue St Peter Port | View on map
1871 (Circa)
Conducted a business at 156 Woodhouse Lane Coburg Street Leeds | View on map
1851 (Circa) - 1866 (Circa)
Living in Woodhouse Lane by 1861 but house number not known
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts (Leeds), 1853
'Portrait Bust, Idealized'
Personal and Professional Connections
Partner to Anthony Welsh
1851 (Circa) - 1866 (Circa)
On 21 June 1860 they jointly took out a patent for improvements in machinery to polish marble
Descriptions of Practice
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
'Stone Mason'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
'Stone and Marble Mason'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
'Marble Mason employing 36 Men and 10 Boys'
Occupation given in Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
'Retired Sculptor'
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
p. 732
Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts, 8 Bond Street, Leeds, 1853
1853 (Presumed)
Cat. No. 531, p. 23
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1841
2010
HO107 piece 1346 folio 7/43 page 12
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1851
2005
HO107 piece 2321 folio 730 page 1
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1861
2005
Class: RG9; Piece: 3394; Folio: 110; Page: 30; GSU roll: 543125.
Census Returns of England and Wales, 1871
2004
RG10 piece 5765 folio 102 page 3
England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966
2010
Name: Dennis Lee
Probate Date: 3 Nov 1874
Death Date: 27 May 1873
Death Place: York, Yorkshire, England
Registry: Wakefield
Gillbanks' Leeds and Neighbourhood Directory and Gazeteer, 1856
1856 (Presumed)
p. 183
Slade & Roebuck's Directory of the Borough and Neighbourhood of Leeds, 1851
1851
p. 519
The London Gazette
Date: 6 July 1860 Issue number: 22401 Page number: 2561 AND Date:
3 July 1863
Issue number:
22750
Page number:
3351 AND Date:
18 April 1871
Issue number:
23729
Page number:
1950
White's Directory and Topography of the Boroughs of Leeds and Bradford, 1861
1861
p. 330
Citing this record
'Dennis Lee', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib5_1213712974, accessed 07 Jun 2023]
