[5] Lee had a house at Pilton, near Barnstaple, but being from early life devoted to the sea, he lived a great deal on board his yacht, in which he visited the coasts of France, Spain, and Italy.

Lee died at Vleesch Bank, Herman station, in the division of Malmsay, South Africa, where some of his family were living, on 5 June 1879.

[6] Lee was a prolific artist, based on the number of oil paintings he is known to have produced, both on canvas and on board.

Landscapes and pastoral scenes form the majority of his painting interest, with some exceptions, for example, Cover Side, The Campfire and Gypsy Tent.

Scottish scenes figured prominently as subjects for Lee, but he also traveled extensively elsewhere in Britain and the continent: Gillingham Mill, Dorset; North Duffield Bridge, Derbyshire; Swiss Bridge, Lynedoch; Fulford Park, Exeter; Ben More looking up Glen Dochart; Shattered Oak in Bedfordshire; Sleaford, Lincolnshire; Rock of Gibraltar; and Pont du Gard, are all examples of this.

However, some recent information has come to light detailing more than 300 of his paintings, suggesting many still reside in private hands or in the unpublished care of museums/National Trust properties.

Lee's paintings were much in demand during his lifetime, and he was certainly not a poor, struggling artist — he appears to have been fairly well-off at the end of his career.

In the last 15 years of his life, Lee divided his time between Broadgate House, his yacht, and South Africa, where he owned several farms.