He took care of wounded seamen in the First Anglo-Dutch War of 1652, and in October 1653 was asked to accompany Bulstrode Whitelocke to Sweden.
In the Westminster Assembly a party holding this view included John Selden, John Lightfoot, Thomas Coleman and Bulstrode Whitelocke, whose speech (1645) is appended to Lee's version of the Theses; but the opposite view, after much controversy, was carried, Lightfoot alone dissenting.
In the mid 17th century Phillis Court was the home of Sir Bulstrode Whitelocke (1605–1675), parliamentarian and Lord Keeper of the Great Seal, who before his death gave it up to his son William Whitelock, later Tory member of parliament for the University of Oxford.