Lee, ROBERT, D.D., was born at Tweedmouth, 11th November 1804, and educated at Berwick (where he was also for a time a boat-builder) and St Andrews. In 1833 he became minister of a chapel of ease at Arbroath; in 1836 he was transferred to Campsie, and in 1843, after the Disruption, to the vacated charge of Old Greyfriars, Edinburgh. In 1846 he was appointed also professor of Biblical Criticism in Edinburgh University, dean of the Chapel Royal, and one of the Queen's chaplains. In 1844 he received his doctorate from St Andrews. In 1857 he began his reform of the Presbyterian church-service. He restored the reading of prayers, as well as the custom of kneeling at prayer and standing during the singing; and in 1863 he introduced a harmonium, in 1865 an organ, into his church. These 'innovations' brought down upon him bitter and harassing attacks, extending over many years; and 'the
Greyfriars case' was still pending before the General Assembly when, on 22d May 1867, Lee fell from his horse in Princes Street, struck with paralysis. He died at Torquay, 14th March 1868.
His works include a Handbook of Devotion, Prayers for Public Worship (3d ed. 1863), a Reference Bible (1854), The Family and its Duties (1863), and The Reform of the Church (1864). See Life by R. H. Story (2 vols. 1870).