Robert Lee (midwifery)

Robert Lee (died February 6, 1877) was Regius Professor of Midwifery at the University of Glasgow in 1834. He held the Chair for the shortest period of any holder to date, resigning from his position immediately after giving his opening address.

Lee was born at Melrose, Roxburghshire in 1793, the son of John Lee. He graduated MD from the University of Edinburgh in 1814. After his graduation he was appointed Physician’s Clerk to James Hamilton, Professor of Midwifery at the University of Edinburgh, a position he relinquished in 1817.

In 1824 Lee accepted an appointment as personal physician to Prince Mikhail Woronzow, Governor-General of the Crimea. Through this office he met Alexander I of Russia in 1825. Returning to London in 1827 Lee was appointed in 1830 a Fellow of the Royal Society, an institution with which he maintained a long and acrimonious relationship.

Through the offices of William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, Lee was appointed Regius Professor of Midwifery at the University of Glasgow in 1834. However, he resigned after his opening speech and returned immediately to London.

Between 1835 and 1866 he was lecturer at St George’s Hospital, London, on midwifery and the diseases of women. He published numerous works including, Clinical Midwifery (1842) and Three Hundred Consultations in Midwifery (1864). Lee died in London in 1877.