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CITATION: Frederick George Lee Collection, MSS 212, Archives and Manuscripts Dept., Pitts Theology Library, Emory University.
Frederick George Lee was an Anglican theologian and writer born at Thame, Oxfordshire, on January 6, 1832. He was ordained deacon by the bishop of Oxford in 1854 and priest in 1856. Lee introduced non-communicating attendance at St. John's church in Aberdeen, causing a schism in the congregation. He was appointed Vicar of All Saints', Lambeth in 1867 where he ministered to the poor for thirty-two years.
In 1857 Lee and Ambrose Lisle March Phillipps de Lisle founded the Association for Promoting the Union of Christendom (APUC) to promote the reuniting of the churches of Rome and England with the Russian church. The APUC was dissolved in 1869. The following year Lee issued The Validity of the Holy Orders of the Church of England maintained and vindicated. His research for this publication led him to doubt the validity of Anglican orders. He joined with other clergy who shared his view to form the Order of Corporate Reunion. The Order sought to restore to the Church of England valid orders supposedly lost during the Reformation. Lee was consecrated a bishop by some Catholic prelates whose names were kept secret. He in turn consecrated two Anglican clergy in 1877. Everyone connected to the Order of Corporate Reunion was sworn to secrecy, and Lee destroyed all papers related to the Order prior to his death.
Lee was a prolific writer of history, archaeology, theology, and poetry, as well as the editor of numerous journals and newspapers. He retired from All Saint's, Lambeth in November 1899 and was received into the Roman Catholic Church on December 11, 1901. He died at the age of 70 on January 22, 1902, following a short illness.
This collection consists of a bound volume and several letters and compositions by Lee. The volume is a published copy of Lee's, Immodesty in art: an expostulation and suggestion; a letter to Sir Frederick Leighton, interspersed with letters and clippings regarding the publication. It appears to be a scrapbook that Lee maintained on the subject of nudity in art.
The compositions consists of an 1853 letter of recommendation for Lee
attributed to Bishop E. H. Browne, a sermon by Lee from 1855, a letter
written by Lee in 1872 to an unknown recipient, and an undated poem.
These items were acquired along with a collection of pamphlets by or about
Lee. The pamphlets were cataloged separately as Special Collections
pieces and can be accessed under Pitts Theology Library call number 1866
Lee:1.