Who invented the lee enfield rifle?

This photo in NOT a Lee rifle. It appears to be a sporterized Type 99 Jap Arasaka.

The Lee-Enfield rifle was NOT invented by anyone named Lee Enfield. The was action invented by James Paris Lee and used a shallow "U' shaped rifling, developed by William Ellis Metford and was originally known as the Lee-Metford rifle (ca. 1880). The Lee-Metford went thru several "Marks", all using a black powder .303 caliber cartridge.

The ".303" is the minor dia of the bullet. Today, the bullets are sized by the major dia,

which is .311" (7.7 mm)

The Lee-Metford rifle first saw service during the Second Boer War (1899-1902) and featured prominently in the film Zulu, starring Michael Caine.

It was renamed the Lee-Enfield, after manufacturing was moved to the Royal Small-Arms Factory in Enfield, North London (ca. approx. 1905) The switch to smokless powder caused higher velocities, burning out the Metford rifling. The engineers at R.S.A.F. developed a 5 groove, R/H twist rifling with square lands. Thus, the "Lee-Enfield"

This is the same time that the "unversal" length rifle came in. The carbine was deleted and the barrel of the rifle. shortened, All services were issued the new "Sht, Magizine,Lee Enfield" (S.M.L.E.)

The Lee-Enfield Mk I was used extensively by the British and her allies throughout WWI. Subsequently, owing to the success of the rifle, it went through something like 9 different versions, before finally becoming obsolete.