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
Martin Archer Shee dramas in 1911. He also published two novels – "Oldcourt" (1829, in three volumes) and "Cecil Hyde" (1834). On the death of Sir Thomas Lawrence in 1830, Shee was chosen president of the Royal Academy in his stead and shortly afterwards received a knighthood. In 1831 he was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. In an examination before the parliamentary committee of 1836 concerning the functions of the Royal Academy, he ably defended its rights. He continued to paint till 1845, when illness made him retire to Brighton. He was deputised for at the Academy by J. M. W.