THE VANES OR FANES.
riS family, which we omitted from its proper place, is now represented by the Earl of Westmoreland in the elder branch, and by the Duke of Cleveland and Frances Marchioness of London- derry and her son Earl Vane in the younger branch. The heralds of the reign of Elizabeth gave it a Welsh pedigree from a sup- posed " Howel-ap-Vane of Monmouthshire," time not stated, but who from a computation of generations must have lived before the Conquest. No names of residences or any authorities, however, appear in support of this genealogy, until we reach a Henry Vane who is said to have been knighted for his gal- lantry at the battle of Poictiers. But the pedigree still gives us no habitat for the family until we reach the reign of Henry VI., when we find a Henry Vane of the manor of Hilden, in the parish of Tunbridge, Kent, who would seem to be the undoubted ancestor of the great families above mentioned. This Henry Vane, of Hilden, Kent, had three sons, John, Thomas, and Henry, of whom Thomas left a son, Humphrey, who died without issue. By his will, dated 1455, their father devised the manor of Hilden to his eldest son, John, and the parsonage to his youngest, Henry. The manor was sold in the 10th year of Henry VII., and the parsonage was also sold in the reign of Edward VI. Henry Vane had a son, Ralph, who was knighted at the fight at Boulogne, 1544, and in the 36th year of his reign Henry VIII. granted to him (as Sir Ralph Fane) and to Anthony Tutsham, Esq., the manor of Shipborne, Kent, with its appurten- ances, lately belonging to the monastery of Dartford, and the manor of Shipborne alias Puttenden, lately belonging to the monastery of Tunbridge, and the lands in the tenure of John Hart, and the lands and chapel of Shipborne with all their appurtenances, to hold of the King in capite by knight's service ; soon after which Anthony Tutsham released all his interest to Sir Ralph. The latter for his valour at the battle of Musselburgh in the 1st of Edward VI. was made a Knight Banneret, and became a favourite and leading counsellor of the Protector Somerset. He shared his downfall, and being engaged in the conspiracy against Dudley which proved fatal to the Duke he was apprehended in October, 1551. He had escaped over the river, but was taken in a stable in Lambeth hidden under the straw. Palmer the informer stated that Sir Ralph Vane was to have brought 2,000 men to assist the Duke in his enterprise. He was brought to trial, found guilty, and executed on Tower Hill, February 26. Burnet says of him, " Sir Ralph Vane was the most lamented of them all. He had done great services in the wars, and was esteemed one of the bravest gentlemen of the nation. He pleaded for himself that he had done his country considerable service during the wars, though now in time of peace the coward and the courageous were equally esteemed. He scorned to make any submissions for life. But this height of mind in him did certainly set forward his condem- nation, and to add more infamy to him in the manner of his death he and Partridge were hanged, whereas the other two were beheaded." On the scaffold he protested with the rest that he had never been guilty of any design either against the King or to kill the Lords, and he added "that his blood would make Northumberland's pillow uneasy to him." He died without issue. John Vane, the elder brother of Sir Ralph's father, Henry, obtained either by grant or purchase the mansion and estate of Hadlow Place, in Tunbridge, and had four sons and three daughters. He took or used the spelling " Fane," and by his will, bearing date April 16, 1488, writing himself " John Fane, of Tunbridge, Esq.," he makes certain bequests to the Church of Tunbridge, and also 68. 8d. to every one of the churches of Hadlow, Leigh, East Peckham, Seale, Marden, Lamberherst ; Bitberyh, Wittersham, and Snergate, in Kent, in all of which places he held lands. He bequeathed to Richard Fane, his second son (ancestor of the Earls of Westmore- land), the manor of Snergate, and after his wife's death his lands in Marden and Lamberherst; to his third son Thomas the mansion, &c., that was his father's, and to his youngest son John (ancestor of the noble families of Vine), when he came of age, all his lands and tenements called Holynden. The rest of the landed pro- perty is left to his eldest son Henry, and his other sons in succession, the lordship of Albenys being left to this Henry in fee. John Fane or Vane's will was proved on June 8 of the same year. His eldest son Henry resided at Hadlow, and was Sheriff of Kent in 23rd Henry VII. He died without issue in
1538, and by his will left to his youngest brother, John, all his lands lying in Great Peckham, Kent, and in default of issue male to Ralph Fane his cousin and the heirs male of his body, remainder to Richard Fane, his next brother, and after several other remainders to Ralph Fane and his heirs for ever ; and his manor and place wherein he then dwelt, with all his lands in Hadlow and Capel to Ralph Fane in tail male, remainder to each of the sons of his youngest brother John Fane successively in like tail. The heir to the rest of his property was his brother, Richard Fane. The third brother, Thomas (of London), had died before Henry Fane in 1532, and bequeathed to his brother John Fane his grey ambling mare which be had of his gift, and his lands lying in Tunbridge called the Vaultney. From this Thomas descended Thomas Fane, of Fairlane, Kent, who died in September, 1692, and left his estate of 30,0001. per annum to Mildmay Vane, seventh son of Vere Fane, Earl of Westmoreland.
We will first pursue the fortunes of the elder branch-the Westmoreland Fanes. Richard Fane, elder brother of the above Thomas Fane and of John Fane, the ancestor of the Vane or younger branch of the Fames, married Agnes, daughter and heir of Thomas Stidolph, Esq., of Badsele in Tudeley, Kent, with whom he had that estate, on which he resided. His only son, George Fane, was seated at Badsele, which was settled on him by his father. He was Sheriff of Kent in the 4th and 5th of Philip and Mary, and died February, 4, 1571. He married Joan, daughter of William Waller, Esq., of Groombridge, Kent, and was succeeded by his son Thomas, who in his youth was one of the gentlemen of Kent that engaged in Sir Thomas Wyat's insurrection in Mary's reign, was committed prisoner to the Tower, and attainted of high treason, but was pardoned by the Queen. He was knighted at the castle of Dover August 26, 1573, by Robert, Earl of Leicester, in the presence of Queen Elizabeth. The fortune of the Fanes was made by his second marriage (December 12, 1574, at Birling, in Kent) to Mary Neville, daughter and heiress of Henry, Lord Abergavenny. On the death of her father she inherited the manors of Birling, Ryarshe, Ealding alias Yalding, Luddesdon, the rectory of All Saints in Birling, and advowson of the vicarage of Birling ; the manor of West Peckham and Maplecomb in West Peckham, and advowson of the church ; the manor of Mere- worth, and advowson of the church, and farm of Old Haie alias Holehaie, all in the county of Kent. Her husband, Sir Thomas Fane, died March 13, 1599. He resided sometimes at Badsele, sometimes at his wife's seat of Mereworth Castle. Mary, Lady Fane, his widow, had on the death of her father in 1587 laid claim to the title of Baroness of Abergavenny or Bergavenny, in opposi- tion to Edward Neville, son of Sir Edward Neville, younger brother of George Lord Abergavenny, Lady Fane's grandfather, on which Sir Edward Neville the castle of Abergavenny bad been settled by will and by Act of Parliament. The claim was not determined till after Sir Thomas Fame's death, May 15, in the 1st of James I., when the barony of Abergavenny as adjudged to the heir male the ancestor of the present Earl of Aberga- venny, the only existing heir male of the great House of Neville. As some compensation to Lady Fane, the old barony of Le Des- pencer was called out of abeyance in her favour with the ancient seat, place, and precedence of her ancestors-to her and the heirs of her body-as being descended from Elizabeth, eldest daughter of Isabel, sister and heir of Richard le Dcspencer, Earl of Gloucester and Lord le Despencer, son of Edward Lord le Despencer (by Elizabeth, daughter and heir of Bartholomew, Lord Burghersh), descended from Hugh le Despencer, Earl of Winchester, and Baron le Despencer (Edward ll.'s favourite), son of Hugh le Despencer, Justice of England in the reign of Henry III. The barony of Despencer continued in the Fane family till 1762, when it fell again into abeyance between the sisters of the Earl of Westmoreland, and was called out again in 1763 in favour of the Dashwood family, from whom in a similar manner it has passed to the Stapletons. Mary Fane, Baroness le Despencer, died June 28, 1626, and the barony then devolved on her eldest son Francis, who was made a Knight of the Bath, July 15, 1603, and on December 29, 1624, was advanced to the titles of Baron Bur- ghersh and Earl of Westmoreland. He married Mary, daughter and heir of Sir Anthony Midway of APETHORP, Northampton- shire, with whom he had a great estate. He died in 1628. His eldest son Mildmay succeeded him as second Earl of Westmoreland, adhered to Charles I. in the Civil War; but in 1643 with several other noblemen abandoned that cause in disgust at the Irish " Cessation," submitted to the Parliament, and on April 22, 1645, with the Earls of Holland, Thanet, and Monmouth, and the Lord Saville, took the oaths required from those who adopted this course. He was author of a volume of poems, " Otis Sacra,"
privately printed in 1648, and died February 12, 1665. He was twice married, his second wife being a daughter and coheiress of Horatio, Lord Vere of Tilbury, and his two sons by these marriages, Charles and Vere, became successively third and fourth Earls of Westmoreland, the latter dying December 29, 1693, and being succeeded by his sons, Vere, Thomas, and John, successively as fifth, sixth, and seventh Earls of Westmoreland. The sixth Earl held the Household appointments of a Lord of the Bedchamber to Prince George of Denmark and Gentleman of the Bedchamber to George I., was Chief Justice of the Forests south of the Trent, and sworn of the Privy Council in 1717. On May 19, 1719, he was appointed First Lord Commissioner of Trade and the Planta- tions, which office he resigned in May, 1735, and died June 4, 1736. His brother and successor, John, seventh Earl, dis- tinguished himself in the wars under the Duke of Marlborough, and had the command of several regiments. On October 4, 1733, he was created a peer of Ireland as Baron Catherlough, and served in the English House of Commons during several Parlia- ments. In 1737 he was appointed Warden of the east bailiwick in Rockingham Forest, and joint Chief Ranger with the Earl of Exeter. In 1739 he became Lieutenant-General in the arfny.
He then retired to his seat of Mereworth Castle, which he re-
built after a plan by Palladio. On January 1, 1754, he was appointed Lord High Steward of the University of Oxford, and
in 1759 he was elected Chancellor of that University. He died August 26, 1762, without issue, when the barony of Despencer, as we have said, fell into abeyance, and the earldom of Westmore- land and barony of Burghersh devolved on his cousin Thomas Fane, of Brympton, in Somersetahire, merchant in Bristol, great- grandson of Sir Francis Fane, younger son of Francis the first Earl of Westmoreland. Sir Francis had obtained some reputation as a dramatic writer and as Governor of Doncaster Castle and. Lincoln for the King in the Civil War. His third son, Henry,.
was made a Knight of the Bath in 1661, and April 18, 1689, was appointed by William III. Commissioner of Excise, and sat in several Parliaments of that reign. His son Charles was of the
Privy Council to George I., and was created in 1718 Viscount Fane and Baron of Loughairne in the Irish Peerage, which titles became extinct in 1782.
Thomas Fane, who succeeded as eighth Earl of Westmoreland, died November 12, 1771, and was succeeded by his son John,
ninth Ear], who as well as his father represented Lyme Regis in Parliament before their accession to the Peerage. He died April, 26, 1774, and was succeeded as tenth Earl by his son John, who married first Sarah Anne, sole daughter and heiress of Robert Child, Esq., of Osterley Park, Middlesex, the celebrated banker;, and his eldest daughter by her, Lady Sarah Sophia, by the will of her grandfather Child inherited his large fortune, which by her marriage to Mr. George Villiers, afterwards Earl of Jersey, she brought to that family. The Earl of Westmoreland, her father, died December 15, 1841, and was succeeded as eleventh Earl by his son John, a distinguished officer during the French war, and. well known afterwards as Ambassador at Berlin and Vienna, and still bett er as an amateur composer and patron of music. He died October 16, 1859, and was succeeded by his son Francis William Henry, twelfth and present Earl of Westmoreland. The Fanes have for some time been supporters of the Tory or Conservative interest, but have not been prominent in domestic politics.
We must now turn to the other branch of the Fames, or Vanes- descended from John Fane, younger brother of the ancestor of the Westmoreland family. John Fane had received, as we have seen, some lands at Holynden, Kent, from his father, and by the will of his elder brother Henry lands lying in Great Peckham. Ile married Joan, daughter and coheiress of Edward Haute, Esq., by whom he had three sons, Henry, Richard, and Thomas (of Win- chelsea). Henry succeeded by virtue of the entail made by his uncle Henry to the manor of Hadlow, after the execution of Sir Ralph Vane, and he seems to have also obtained the rest' of his unfortunate kinsman's property at Shipborne and else- where. He engaged, like his relative of the Westmoreland branch, in Wyat's insurrection, like him was sent to the Tower, and also pardoned by the Queen. The whole family indeed were among the early and most zealous Protestants. In the two first Parliaments of Elizabeth he was returned for Winchester, and became a leading member of the House of Commons. He died June 11, 1581, leaving his son and heir, Henry, of the age of twenty years. He repaired to the camp at Tilbury on the occasion of the Spanish invasion in 1588, the county of Kent contributing thereto 150 horse and 5,000 foot, a larger force than any county except Middlesex. He had afterwards a command in the forces sent to France to the assistance of Henry of Navarre,
and died at Rouen, October 14, 1596. His will and that of his father show that they were strongly imbued with the religious tone of the more earuest Protestants of that age. It appears by the inquisition taken after his death that he possessed besides, the manors already enumerated those of Goodies alias Fromonds, Crowberry alias Croweberry, and Camiston alias Cawstons, all in Kent, which descended to his eldest son and heir Henry, then of the age of seven. This Henry Fane, born in 1589, resumed the old form of the family name—Vane. He was knighted by James L in 1611, and afterwards travelled for three years and mastered several foreign languages. On his return to England he was elected to the Parliament of 1614 for Carlisle, and from this time for many years was very influential in the counsels of James and Charles. The former King appointed him soon after his entrance into Parliament cofferer to the Prince, and the latter retained him on his accession to the throne, and made him one of his Privy Council. He sat for Carlisle in the Parliaments of 1620 and 1625, and in every succeeding Parliament during his life, for Thetford in Norfolk, the county of Kent, and (in the Lotitg Parliament) for Wilton in Wiltshire. He was eminent as a diplomatist, but in other respects a mere self-seeking, laborious man of business, without the slightest elevation of character. But he was an ambitious man, and he seems to have desired to emulate the kindred Westmoreland branch by founding in his own family a peerage. The great estates of the Nevilles Earls of Westmore- land in the north, which bad been forfeited for their rebellion in the reign of Elizabeth, were at this time in the hands of the citi- zens of London, to whom they had been granted by the Crown as trustees for the purpose of sale ; and probably it was the fact of the Fanes having obtained by marriage some of the Kentish estates of the Abergavenny branch of the Nevilles that led Sir Henry Vane of Hadlow to turn his attention to the Neville estates in the bishopric of Durham. Accordingly he purchased during the reign of James I. the great lordship and manor of Baby Castle in that county, and seems to have continued his purchases over several years, in 1626 becoming the purchaser of the honour of Barnard Castle in the same county, and acquiring altogether a large estate in that district, of which he made Raby Castle the chief seat. He also purchased about the year 1639 another estate in Kent, viz., the mansion of Fairlawn with the lands belonging to It in Wrotham, and at a subsequent period he disposed of the family estate of Hadlow, and Fairlawn became the centre of the Kentish estate of the Vanes, including the manors of Shipborne,&c. In 1631 Sir Henry was appointed Ambassador Extraordinary to Denmark, and in a similar capacity to confirm a peace and alliance with Gustavus Adolphus of Sweden, and concluded both missions suc- cessfully. He returned home in 1632, and the next year gave a princely entertainment at Raby Castle to King Charles, then on his way to Scotland to be crowned. He again entertained him at the same place in 1639 in the expedition against the Scots, in which Sir Henry also held the command of a regiment. In this year he was made Comptroller of the Household, and sdme months afterwards principal Secretary of State. He experienced in this last office the greatest opposition from Wentworth, who managed to delay the appointment for some months. But the Queen's influ- ence secured it at last for Vane, who received a further affront from Wentworth in the January following, when the latter on being created Earl of Strafford chose also for an additional barony that of Raby of Raby, Durham, a title which Sir Heny Vane had doubtless anticipated for himself. This led him to grow cooler in those courtier-like feelings by which he had been hitherto actuated, and during the Long Parliament he gradually allowed his eldest son Henry to carry him over to the popular party, to whom his experience and business habits made him a wel- come recruit. Charles at the close of the year 1641 marked his displeasure by dismissing him from the office of Secretary of State • which he still nominally held, and giving it to the Viscount Falkland. Vane sat in the Long Parliament following in the wake of his son, but being otherwise a nonentity. On December 1, 1615, the Par- liament in its propositions for peace voted to recommend to the King the creation of Sir Henry Vane to a barony. He was among the members who retained their seats in the House after Pride's Purge and the establishment of the Commonwealth, sitting on committees, but taking no leading part in public affairs. He died at his seat of Baby Castle in the latter part of the year 1654. He had married Frances, daughter of Thomas Darcy, Esq., of Tolshunt-Darcy in Essex, and had by her three sons, who grew to maturity, the eldest of them being the famous Sir Henry or Harry Vane. The second son, George, was knighted atWhitehall, November 22,1640, and had his seat at Long-Newton in Durham. He espoused the Royalist side in the Civil War, and in July, 1045, surprised Raby Castle, which was held in his father's name for the Parliament. He obtained the estate of Rogerley in Durham with his wife, daughter of Sir Lionel Maddison, and died in 1679. We find his name, as well as those of his father and brother, still sometimes spelt " Fane." His great- grandson, the Rev. Henry Vane, Prebendary of Durham, was created a baronet in 1782, and married Frances, daughter of John Tempest, and sister and at length heiress of John Tempest of Winyard and Old Durham, and their only son, Sir Henry Vane, Baronet, on succeeding to his paternal uncle's estate assumed the name of Tempest in addition to that of Vane. In 1807 he was elected member for the county of Durham in the in- dependent interest against a powerful coalition, and in 1812 re- elected without opposition. He died in 1813, having married Anne, Countess of Antrim and Baroness Dunlu in her own right, by whom he had an only daughter, Emily Frances Anne, who became the second wife of Charles William Stewart, afterwards Marquis of Londonderry. This lady still survives, and is the present possessor of the great Vane-Tempest property in Durham. Her eldest son, George Henry Charles Robert Vane, is the present Earl Vane and Viscount Seaham, of Seaham, Durham, in which titles he succeeded his father (who had been created to them 1823 with limitation to the eons of his second marriage) in 1854. The collieries in the Vane-Tempest property have rendered it exceedingly valuable, and the political influence of the family in the county, now exerted, as is that of the Fanes, in the Conservative interest, is very considerable, and more active than in the case of the kindred family. We now turn to the Parliamentary chief.
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