John Lee Lee

John Lee Lee ( Hanning; 11 December 1802 – 16 August 1874) of Orleigh Court in the parish of Buckland Brewer in Devon, and of Dillington House, near Ilminster in Somerset, was a British Whig politician who was Member of Parliament for Wells.

Early life Born John Lee Hanning on 11 December 1802, he was the only son, and heir, of William Hanning (d. 1834) of Dillington House, near Ilminster in Somerset, and Harriett Lee, daughter of Edward Lee of Pinhoe, Devon.

In 1819 at the age of 17, by the will of his uncle, Maj. Edward Lee, who died in 1819, he inherited several estates including Orleigh. He let Orleigh to his brother-in-law, William Speke, of Jordans near Ilminster (father of the River Nile explorer John Hanning Speke) and made his own residence at Dillington. By her he had one son:

Vaughan Hanning Vaughan-Lee (1836–1882), who became Conservative MP for West Somerset; he married Clara Elizabeth Moore, a daughter of George Moore of Appleby Hall, in 1861.

His second marriage, in 1841, was to Hon. Mary Sophia Hood (d. 1888), daughter of Samuel Hood, 2nd Baron Bridport (1788–1868) and Charlotte Mary Nelson, suo jure 3rd Duchess of Bronte in Sicily (an Italian title). Together, they were the parents of two sons and two daughters, including:

Emily Mary Lee (–1893), who married Thomas Spragging Godfrey of Balderton Hall, Nottinghamshire, in 1864. After his death in 1877, she married Maj.-Gen. Henry Lowther Balfour of the Royal Artillery in 1882. His widow died on 29 January 1888.