Born in Sheffield in about 1837, George Shadford Lee was the son of George Shadford Lee, a carpenter, and his wife Sarah née Travis.  As a teenager, George S. Lee Jun. became a house servant.  By 1861, he was a warehouseman and then by 1868 was in partnership with George Travis (see Travis, Wilson) as a silversmith and Britannia metal smith.  In about 1869, he formed his own business at Charlotte Street Works.  His mark was an anchor with his initials (GSL) and those of Henry Wigfull (HW), with whom he formed Lee & Wigfull.  This partnership was dissolved in 1879 and Lee became a commercial traveller for a silver-plate manufacturer.  In about 1887, he had toured India and Australia on behalf of Joseph Rodgers & Sons.  

Lee was a Methodist.  In 1889, he presented a communion service (made by Rodgers) to Epworth Memorial (Wesleyan) Chapel in memory of his grandfather, George Lee, of Belton, near Epworth, who for fifty years was closely connected with the Epworth circuit (Sheffield Independent, 9 September 1889).   George S. Lee died of pneumonia at Pietermaritzburg, Natal, on 11 July 1906.   His occupation was bookkeeper; and amongst his personal effects was an oil painting of John Wesley.