Henry Morton Lee initially traded as a gentleman's hairdresser, first in Gracechurch Street in the City of London from c.1904 before moving to Cruzon Street, London in c.1909. Henry Lee was highly successful as a hairdresser, gaining a Royal Warrant by 1909 and travelling with King Edward VII to India in 1911. He relinquished the hairdressing business after WW1 and established himself as an antiques dealer in Kingston-upon-Thames, near the market in the town.
Henry Lee was joined by his brother Morton Henry Lee, and by the late 1920s the firm became know as H.M. Lee & son, when Henry's son Ronald A. Lee, joined the firm. Morton Henry Lee left the firm in the 1940s to specialise in French Furniture and works of art (see Henry Morton Lee entry), whilst Ronald Lee opened his own business (see R.A. Lee entry) in 1949.