Richard Lee
3G-grandfather of Norma Margaret Oliver
Born:
Abt. 1778 Middlesex, England
Died:
14 Sep 1855 Islington Workhouse, Islington, Middlesex, England. Age 77
Cause of death:
Diarrhoea and exhaustion
Timeline
c1778
1829
Sep 1829
1841
Jan 1848
1851
Jan 1853
Sep 1855
Lived with family at West Ham, Essex and worked as a Pattern Drawer [3]
Baptised children at St Giles Cripplegate Church, London [3]
Lived with family at Elizabeth Terrace, Islington, Middlesex and worked as a Designer [4]
Death of wife Elizabeth from typhus at their home at 1 Elizabeth Terrace, Islington. Worked as a Pattern Designer [5]
Lived at 26 Market Street, Westminster, Middlesex and worked as a Pattern Designer [2]
Admitted to the Islington Workhouse due to "distress" [6]
Biography
Birth and work as a shawl pattern designer
Richard was born around 1778 in the London area [1] [2]. Our first record of him is the baptism of his three children, Elizabeth, Charles and Maria at St Giles Cripplegate Church in 1829 [3].
​
Their baptismal records indicate that Richard and his wife Elizabeth were residing at West Ham in Essex at the time, so it is not clear why they chose to baptise their children in central London.
St Giles Cripplegate Church, London, 1830
The baptismal records of his children also indicate that Richard worked as a Pattern Drawer, with later census records giving his occupation variously as a Designer or Pattern Designer [4] [2]. His death certificate confirms that the patterns Richard was designing were shawl patterns.
​
Shawls were an essential piece of clothing in the 19th century and they were made from a variety of fabrics, including silk, lace, muslin and cashmere [8].
​
Cashmere shawls were particularly popular. The word "cashmere" was an anglicisation of Kashmir, where the shawls were originally exported from. Distinctive features of cashmere shawls were their fine, light wool and complex motifs woven into the fabric. They were expensive status symbols and it was not long before local manufacturers began to produce imitation shawls, the most well known being produced in Paisley, Scotland. These shawls copied the distinctive kashmiri motifs and it was not long before the name of the town became synonymous with that style of pattern, now known as "paisley" [9] [10].
Women with shawls in the 1820s, featuring patterned borders, including the popular paisley design
Paisley designs, whether woven into wool shawls, or printed on cheaper calico, required an artist to design them. ​Given the ubiquity of paisley shawls and their enduring popularity throughout the 19th century, it is very possible that Richard drew paisley designs as a shawl pattern designer. In that line of work, he would have been a contemporary of the Hait​é family, who designed patterns for shawls [10] [11].
Paisley shawl design c1850 by Charles Haité
Admission to workhouse and death
Richard continued as a shawl pattern designer throughout early Victorian period [4] [5]. The family took up residence on Elizabeth Terrace, Islington and it is there that Richard's wife, Elizabeth, died of typhus in January 1848 [5].
​
Typhus spread through the bite of infected lice and was associated with overcrowded and unsanitary conditions, although it affected all classes of society. At the time, London was experiencing a major typhus epidemic as tens of thousands of refugees fled the Great Famine in Ireland. The outbreak of typhus was closely associated with the refugees' arrival, to the degree that it was known as "Irish fever" [12] [13].
​
Within 2 weeks of being bitten, Elizabeth would have experienced fever, aches and a rash. In modern times, typhus can be effectively treated with antibiotics however, at the time, no such treatment was available. The mortality rate for typhus varied but during epidemics at the time was about 10%, although older people over 50, such as Elizabeth, were at higher risk [13].​
​
She was seemingly cared for by her daughter, Elizabeth, as Elizabeth's husband Henry Collyer was present at her death and the informant on her death certificate [5].
​
After his wife's death, Richard's life deteriorated. In 1851, he was living in a small dwelling, likely a one-roomed flat, on Market Street in Westminster, close to Horseferry Dock and across the river from where his daughters Elizabeth and Maria were living in Kennington with their families [2].
Market Street, Westminster in 1851, across the river from Lambeth and Kennington areas
On the 6th January in 1853, Richard was admitted to the Islington Workhouse on the basis of "distress" [6]. The admission records show his address as Elizabeth Terrace, Islington, although it is not clear if he moved back to his old address or whether it was just his last permanent address.
​
Upon admission, Richard was given a uniform and assigned to one of the male wards. Diets were basic and monotonous foods, such as gruel or bread and cheese. Able-bodied men were given hard labour but Richard, along with other old and infirm inmates, would have had little to fill his day other than sit around in a day room, with little opportunity for visitors [14] [15].
​
Richard spent the next two and a half years in the workhouse until his health declined at the end of summer 1855. He was very likely transferred to the workhouse infirmary, which had ramshackle wards that were small, badly lit and badly ventilated, a legacy of age of the building, which was constructed in the 1770s [16].
Despite this, the infirmary was well run and care had been taken to make the best of it - the walls were coloured brightly and prints on the wall and small ornaments were dotted around. Linen was clean and the wards had shawls for cold weather. While there, Richard would have received care from other pauper inmates who, by all accounts, were well trained and managed [16]. However, he sadly passed away at 4.20pm on the 14th of September 1855, at the age of 77, suffering the effects of diarrhoea and exhaustion [1] [7].
Source information
-
Richard Lee, England & Wales Death Certificate, Registered 3rd Quarter 1855 in Islington, Record no: 64, General Register Office [www.gro.gov.uk]. Age at time of death gave approximate year of birth as 1778.
-
Richard Lee [1851], Census return for 26 Market Street, Westminster, Middlesex, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]. Gave place of birth as Middlesex and approximate year of birth as 1780.
-
Elizabeth, Charles and Maria Lee, Baptismal records, St Giles Cripplegate Parish Register [Church of England], 23 Sep 1829, Record nos: 9641-9643, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
-
​Richard Lee [1841], Census return for Elizabeth Terrace, Islington, Middlesex, The National Archives of the UK, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
-
​Elizabeth Lee, England & Wales Death Certificate, Registered 1st Quarter 1848 in Islington, Record no: 350, General Record Office [www.gro.gov.uk]. Address of Elizabeth at time of death used as proxy for Richard, as she was his wife. Gave Richard’s occupation as Pattern Designer. Informant on the death certificate was Elizabeth’s son-in-law, Henry Collyer, confirming relationship.
-
Richard Lee, Admissions and Discharges for the Third Week of the Quarter ending Ladyday 1853, Islington Workhouse, Admission record, London England Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records 1764-1921, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
-
Richard Lee, Admissions and Discharges for the Thirteenth Week of the Quarter ending Michaelmas 1855, Discharge record, Islington Workhouse, London England Workhouse Admission and Discharge Records 1764-1921, Ancestry [www.ancestry.co.uk]
-
Matthews, Mimi, Shawls and wraps in 19th century art, literature and fashion history, 29 Jul 2015 [www.mimimatthews.com]
-
Kashmir shawl,​ Last edited 1 Jan 2025, Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
-
Paisley shawls, Last edited 4 Mar 2025, Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
-
​George Charles Haité, Last edited 18 Feb 2025, Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
-
Epidemic typhus, Last edited 9 Mar 2025, Wikipedia [en.wikipedia.org]
-
Darwen, L, 'Irish fever' in Britain during the Great Famine, University of Roehampton London, 2020 [roehampton.ac.uk]
-
An Introduction to the Workhouse, Workhouses.org [workhouses.org.uk]
-
The Victorian Workhouse, Historic UK [www.historic-uk.com]
-
The Workhouse in Islington, Workhouses.org [workhouses.org.uk]
Personal map
Map of places from Richard's life
Family members
Wife
Elizabeth
c1790-1848
