Thomas Stirling Lee

Thomas Stirling Lee (London, 16 March 1857 – 29 June 1916, London) was an English sculptor, specialising in reliefs and portrait heads.

Early life

Lee was born in Lambeth, London on 16 March 1857, the son of John Swanwick Lee, a surveyor. He was educated at Westminster School and then served as an apprentice in the studio of John Birnie Philip.

Lee studied at the Royal Academy Schools from 1876 to 1880, where he won both a Gold Medal and a Travelling Scholarship. Examples are to be seen, e.g., in the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, and in private collections. thumb Mabel Bent, a bronze portrait relief (c. 25 cm, 2 kg) by Thomas Stirling Lee, dated 1895 (Bent Archive collection)

He was a member of the National Portrait Society from 1910 to 1915, He was a member and twice chairman of the Chelsea Arts Club Stirling Lee was an active member of the Art Workers' Guild and was elected Master in 1898.

The reverse face of the stone cross from Thomas Stirling Lee’s 1911 monument to Henry Sadler in New Southgate Cemetery (Sector L), London, showing Lee’s carving of the ‘Triple Tau’ symbol (2026). Lee was an active Freemason: “A new lodge, for the convenience of professors of the arts of sculpture and painting, was consecrated on Tuesday [13 June 1899], at Freemasons’ Hall, London… The lodge is numbered 2751 on the roll of Grand Lodge of England.” Lee was appointed one of the officers. He is credited with designing masonic jewels, i.e. for Public Schools Chapter No. 2233 and a Past Masters Jewel for Rosemary Lodge No. 2851. He also designed and carved the memorial for fellow mason Henry Sadler (d. 1911), in New Southgate Cemetery, London. It was commissioned by the Grand Lodge, for whom Sadler was archivist/librarian. The monument was in the form of a cross on a pillar resting on an inscribed base. The total height was c. 2.2 m in a rectangular plot. It has since collapsed and the cross piece is face down, awaiting restoration. What we see today on the reverse face is Lee's carving of the Triple Tau symbol, the grand emblem of Royal Arch Masonry.

Death and burial

The family grave in the New Southgate Cemetery, Brunswick Park Rd, London, in which Thomas Stirling Lee was buried in July 1916.

Falling unconscious in the arcade at South Kensington Station, Stirling Lee died at St George's Hospital, Knightsbridge, London He is buried in a family plot (99, Sector K; 51.62370290623633, -0.1447617412141977) in the New Southgate Cemetery, Brunswick Park Rd, London. The plot was granted to his father, John Swanwick Lee, in 1865, to hold six coffins, for which the latter paid seven guineas. Stirling Lee was buried there on Tuesday, 4 July 1916. The plot is somewhat dilapidated (August 2026) and the heads of two small figures on the sides of the headstone are missing; no inscriptions are visible apart from a few words. Apparently his friends subscribed to a fund for a bronze panel on the vault, but this has not been traced (August 2026). - The Progress of Justice series of bas reliefs, left of the central portico on Saint George's Hall, Liverpool, 1885–1894 The National Progress series, right of the portico on Saint George's Hall, 1898–1901 Doors with scenes of male friendship, Adelphi Bank, Liverpool