Martin Archer Shee Turner, who had appointed him a trustee of the projected Turner almshouse. From 1842–1849, he was the first president of the Birmingham Society of Artists. Shee died in Brighton in 1850 and was buried in the western extension to St Nicholas' Churchyard in Brighton. His headstone remains, but has been laid flat and moved to the perimeter of the site. Shee had three sons, who became successful barristers, and three daughters. Descendants of one of the sons was George Archer-Shee, whose story inspired "The Winslow Boy", a play written by Terence Rattigan and his older half-brother Martin Archer-Shee MP. Shee's
Terence Rattigan "Aunt Edna" inspired Joe Orton to create "Edna Welthorpe", a mischievous alter ego stirring up controversy about his own plays. Rattigan was gay, with numerous lovers but no long-term partners, a possible exception being his "congenial companion ... and occasional friend" Michael Franklin. It has been claimed his work is essentially autobiographical, containing coded references to his sexuality, which he kept secret from all but his closest friends. There is some truth in this, but it risks being crudely reductive; for example, the repeated claim that Rattigan originally wrote "The Deep Blue Sea" as a play about male lovers, turned