George Lee, 3rd Earl of Lichfield

George was born on 21 May 1718 at Windsor Castle. He was the son of George Henry Lee I, 2nd Earl of Lichfield and his wife, Frances Hales. His father was the eldest son of George Lee, 2nd Earl of Lichfield. George's mother had been brought up as a Catholic by her father, Sir John Hales, 4th Baronet of Hackington, of Woodchurch in Kent.[1]

He heads the list of his siblings below as the eldest:

1. George Henry (1718–1772);
2. Charles Henry (c. 1719 – 1740);
3. Frances (1721–1723);
4. Edward Henry (c. 1723 – 1742);
5. Frances (1724–1761), married to Henry Hyde, 5th Baron Hyde;
6. Charlotte (c. 1724 – 1794); married to Henry Dillon, 11th Viscount Dillon;
7. Henrietta or Harriet (1726–1752), married to John Bellew, 4th Baron Bellew of Duleek;
8. Mary (born c. 1728), married to Cosmo Neville, Esq.; and
9. Anne (1731–1802), married to Hugh Edward Henry Clifford, 5th Baron Clifford of Chudleigh.

From birth he was styled Viscount Quarendon. In the family tradition, he was educated at St John's College, Oxford. On 14 February 1732 he was made an M.A. of Oxford. In 1740 and from 1741 to 1742, he served as Member of Parliament (MP) for the county of Oxford.

On 15 February 1743, his father died and Viscount Quarendon became the 3rd Earl of Lichfield.[2]

He continued to study and earned his D.C.L. of Oxford on 25 August 1743. 23 years later, on 19 August of the year 1760, Lichfield received the great position of High Steward of the University of Oxford.

On 9 December 1760, he became Lord of the Bedchamber to King George III; and on 12 July 1762, Captain of the Band of Gentlemen Pensioners. He joined the Privy Council on 14 July 1762. He replaced George Huddesford as the Deputy Ranger of Hampton Court Park in July 1762. Finally, on 23 September 1762, he assumed the role of Chancellor of the University of Oxford.[2]

From the Gentleman's Magazine, XXXIII., p. 349:

"The graceful dignity, the polite condescension, the ne quid nimis ('Let there be nothing in Excess') of the Chancellor were universally admired" — 1763.

In brief, he earned his D.C.L. of Oxford degree on 27 September 1762; became a Vice-President of the Society of Arts; and a Deputy Lieutenant for Oxfordshire county on 17 October 1763.

He married Diana or Dinah, daughter of Sir Thomas Frankland; they had no children, and the Earldom of Lichfield passed to his uncle Robert Lee upon his death on 19 September 1772.[2]

Lord Lichfield died on 17 September 1772.[3]

The 3rd and 4th earls, George Henry II and Robert Lee respectively, died without issue, therefore the estate eventually reverted to the 2nd Earl's eldest surviving daughter, and sister of the 3rd Earl, Lady Charlotte Lee. In 1744 Charlotte had married the 11th Viscount Dillon. Their son Charles Dillon, 12th Viscount Dillon inherited the estate of Ditchley but not the title. Ditchley remained the home of the Viscounts Dillon until 1934.

The title was created for a third time when Thomas Anson was created Earl of Lichfield in the 1831 coronation honors of William IV.

• Earl of Lichfield
• Lee Baronets of Quarendon, Buckinghamshire, 1611–1776.
• Viscount Dillon

• Blakiston, Herbert Edward Douglas (1892). "Lee, George Henry" . In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. 32. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
• Cokayne, George Edward (1893), The complete peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, extant, extinct, or dormant, 5 (1st ed.), London: George Bell and Sons – L to M (for Lichfield)
• Thorne, Roland (2004), "Lee, George Henry, third earl of Lichfield (1718–1772)", in Matthew, Colin; Harrison, Brian (eds.), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 35, New York: Oxford University Press, pp. 69–71, ISBN 0-19-861383-0

• Genealogy of George Lee, 3rd Earl of Lichfield on The Peerage website