{{Short description|New Zealand politician (1862–1932)}} {{about||the Alberta politician|Ernest Leonard Lee|the biochemist|Ernest Y. C. Lee}} {{Use dmy dates|date=November 2016}} {{Use New Zealand English|date=November 2016}} thumb|Lee in 1919. '''Ernest Page Lee''' (27 August 1862<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://www.geni.com/people/Ernest-Lee/6000000038486606010|title = Ernest Page Lee| date=27 August 1862 }}</ref> – 19 February 1932) was a New Zealand lawyer and politician of the Reform Party.
==Early life== Born in 1862 in Teignmouth, England, he received his education at Cheltenham and London. Aged 18, he started learning the legal trade in a firm of solicitors in the West of England. He was submitted to the Supreme Court of Judicature in 1885. A year later, he emigrated to New Zealand.<ref name="Herald obit">{{cite news|title=Death of Mr. E. P. Lee|url=http://paperspast.natlib.govt.nz/cgi-bin/paperspast?a=d&cl=search&d=NZH19320219.2.100|access-date=23 June 2015|work=The New Zealand Herald|volume=LXIX|issue=21111|date=19 February 1932|page=10}}</ref> He settled in Oamaru, and was at first a clerk in a legal firm owned by Thomas William Hislop and Arthur Gethin Creagh.{{sfn|Scholefield|1940|p=491}} He founded the firm of Lee, Grave and Grave.<ref name="Herald obit" /> In 1895 married Miss de Lambert. His sister, Leah Lee, was married to the French poet Jules Laforgue.
==Political career== {{NZ parlbox header|nolist = true}} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1911}} |end=1914 |term=18th |electorate={{NZ electorate link|Oamaru}} |party=Reform Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1914}} |end=1919 |term=19th |electorate=Oamaru |party=Reform Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1919}} |end=1922 |term=20th |electorate=Oamaru |party=Reform Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox break}} {{NZ parlbox |start={{NZ election link year|1925}} |end=1928 |term=22nd |electorate=Oamaru |party=Reform Party (New Zealand) }} {{NZ parlbox footer}} Lee was elected onto the Oamaru Borough council.{{sfn|Scholefield|1940|p=491}} In the {{NZ election link|1911}}, he defeated the incumbent in the Oamaru electorate, Thomas Young Duncan.<ref name="Herald obit" /> He represented the electorate until 1922,{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=119}} when he was defeated in the 1922 election. The 1922 Oamaru election result was invalidated due to irregularities, but Lee lost the subsequent 1923 by-election again to John MacPherson of the Liberal Party.{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=124}} He won the electorate from MacPherson in 1925,{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=119}} but again lost it to MacPherson in 1928.{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=124}}
He was the Minister of Justice (3 April 1920 – 13 January 1923), Minister of External Affairs (17 May 1920 – 13 January 1923) and Minister of Industries and Commerce (22 June 1920 – 13 January 1923) in the Reform Government.{{sfn|Scholefield|1950|p=45}}
==Outside politics== Lee founded the North Otago Jockey Club. He was an accomplished mountaineer and ascended many of the high peaks of the Southern Alps.<ref name="Herald obit" /> He was on Lake Wakatipu when he had a seizure. He died three weeks later on 19 February 1932 at Queenstown, and was survived by his wife.<ref name="Herald obit" />
==Notes== {{Reflist}}
==References== *{{cite book |editor1-last=Scholefield |editor1-first=Guy |editor1-link=Guy Scholefield |title=Who's who in New Zealand and the western Pacific |year=1925 |edition=2nd | orig-year=First published in 1908 |publisher = Guy Scholefield |location=Masterton}} *{{cite book | editor-last = Scholefield | editor-first = Guy | editor-link = Guy Scholefield | title = A Dictionary of New Zealand Biography : A–L | volume = I | year = 1940 | publisher = Department of Internal Affairs | location = Wellington | url = https://nzhistory.govt.nz/sites/default/files/documents/dnzb-1940/scholefield-dnzb-v1.pdf | access-date = 24 June 2015}} *{{Cite book |last= Scholefield |first= Guy |title= New Zealand Parliamentary Record, 1840–1949 |authorlink=Guy Scholefield |edition=3rd |orig-year= First ed. published 1913 |year= 1950 |publisher=Govt. Printer |location= Wellington}}
{{s-start}} {{s-off}} {{S-bef | before = Gordon Coates}} {{S-ttl | title = Minister of Justice |years=1920–1923}} {{S-aft |rows = 2 | after = Francis Bell}} {{s-bef | before = William Massey}} {{s-ttl | title = Minister of Police|years=1920–1923}} |- {{s-par | nz}} {{s-bef | before = Thomas Young Duncan }} {{s-ttl | rows = 2 | title = Member of Parliament for Oamaru | years = 1911–1922 <br />1925–1928 }} {{s-aft | after = John Andrew MacPherson }} {{s-bef | before = John Andrew MacPherson }} {{s-aft | after = John Andrew MacPherson }} {{end}}
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lee, Ernest}} Category:1862 births Category:1932 deaths Category:English emigrants to New Zealand Category:Members of the Cabinet of New Zealand Category:Reform Party (New Zealand) MPs Category:Ministers of foreign affairs of New Zealand Category:19th-century New Zealand lawyers Category:People from Teignmouth Category:People from Oamaru Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1922 New Zealand general election Category:Unsuccessful candidates in the 1928 New Zealand general election Category:Members of the New Zealand House of Representatives Category:New Zealand MPs for South Island electorates Category:20th-century New Zealand lawyers Category:Ministers of justice of New Zealand