Robert Lee (minister)

Rev Prof Robert Lee DD FRSE (1804-1868) was the first Professor of Biblical Criticism at edinburgh University. He was both minister of Greyfriars Kirk and Dean of the Chapel Royal serving Queen Victoria.

He was born in Tweedmouth on 11 November 1804, the eldest of three sons to George Lee, a boat-builder from a long line of boat-builders on the River Tweed, and his wife, Jane Lambert. He was educated at Berwick Grammar School. He was then apprenticed into the family business, working as a boat-builder for six years. However, in 1824, his family seeing his potential, paid for him to study Classics at St Andrews University in Scotland. He supplemented his income by tutoring the young George Whyte-Melville.

He was ordained into the Church of Scotland in 1833, his first charge being Inverbrothock Chapel of Ease near Arbroath. In 1836 he was translated to Campsie, Stirlingshire.

In 1843 he made the life-changing move to be minister of Old Greyfriars Kirk in Edinburgh. Unlike many of his peers, he did not leave the established church in the Disruption of 1843 and remained true to his beliefs. St Andrews University granted him a doctorate (DD) in 1844. He was appointed a Chaplain in Ordinary to Her Majesty in 1846. In 1847 he became the first Professor of Biblical Criticism at Edinburgh University. He lived at 24 George Square in Edinburgh, not far from his church.

In 1853 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society of Edinburgh his proposer being John Russell.

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