Actor, theatre manager and writer of pantomimes and plays. Among his most successful pantomimes were 'Old Cocker' and 'Riddle me Riddle me Ree'.
His father was Lieutenant-Colonel Richard Lee. The son claimed that his name, Nelson, came from having been born on the day of Nelson's funeral, but the admiral was interred on the 9th, the day after Lee's birth. Lee died at home in Dalston probably at the house with the plaque.
Lee had 8 children; the eldest, Nelson James Lee (1842–1923) was a writer of melodramas.
Hackney holds this item: "Richard Nelson Lee and Nelson Lee junior, authors of Victorian pantomime : a bibliographical checklist [in: Nineteenth Century Theatre vol. 13 nos. 1 & 2 Summer and Winter 1990]" written by Alan Ruston about his ancestors: "Lee, Richard Nelson" and "Lee, Nelson James [1842-1923]", with Notes: "The Lee family lived in Hackney Road, Shoreditch, from the late 1840s then moved to Nelson Cottage, Shrubland Road, Dalston in 1851."
Credit for this entry to: Alan Patient of www.plaquesoflondon.co.uk
