Dame Sarah Anne Lees DBE DStJ (née Buckley; 13 November 1842 – 14 April 1935) of Werneth Park, Oldham, was an English Liberal politician, activist, and philanthropist who was the first female councillor elected in Lancashire (1907–19) and the first female Mayor of Oldham (1910–11), only the second woman in England to hold such a position.
After the Qualification of Women Act 1907 was passed by Parliament, Lees became the first woman to be elected to Oldham's Town Council, representing Hollinwood Ward.
The hospital had originated in a bequest made by the late Mr H. L. Hargraves and, with the sum of £13,296, the foundation stone had been laid on 23 April 1870.
On 25 August 1917, she was appointed a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire (DBE) in recognition of her services during World War I.
The Dame Sarah Lees Memorial erected in Werneth Park in 1937, was designed and made by the local artist and sculptor Williams Hargreaves Whitehead.