Michael White Lee

Army officer who owned property in Jamaica through his marriages to Judith Barrett in 1803 and her granddaughter Barrett Williams (q.v.) in 1805. Barrett Williams was the daughter of Martin Williams senior (q.v.), and through her, Michael White Lee gained his claim to the compensation for Old Hope Pen and Seven Rivers in Jamaica. The compensation for enslaved persons on these estates was awarded to Rev. Henry Mair (q.v.) as mortgagee.

1. Stationed in Jamaica in the 1790s, a Captain in the 55th Regiment of Foot, Michael White Lee married Judith Goodwin, the widow of Samuel Barrett, 12/03/1803 when he was 33 and she was nearly 60. Judith died the following year. Michael White Lee then purchased a commission in the 1st West India Regiment and returned to London where he married Barrett Williams (q.v.), the granddaughter of Judith Goodwin, 17/01/1805.

2. The death of Michael White Lee was registered in Cheltenham, Gloucestershire, Q1 1847.

T71/873 St James claim no. 3 (Seven Rivers); T71/871 Westmoreland claim no. 219 (Old Hope Pen).

1. R.A. Barrett, The Barretts of Jamaica: The Family of Elizabeth Barrett Browning (Athlone, Continuum International Publishing Group, 2000), pp. 48-49. Marriage in Trelawny, Jamaica on 12/03/1803 between Captain Michael White Lee and Judith Barrett: www.familysearch.org batch no. I04099-9. Marriage in Marylebone between Michael White Lee and Barrett Williams: Ancestry.com, London, England, Marriages and Banns, 1754-1921 [database online].

2. England & Wales Free BMD [database online].