Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland
Encyclopedia
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
(February 1580 – 23 March 1629) head of the Fane
Fane
Fane may refer to:* Fane, Papua New Guinea, village associated with Simona Noorenbergh* Fane * Fane River in Ireland...
family, of Mereworth
Mereworth Castle
Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England.Originally the site of a fortified manor licensed in 1332, the present building is not actually a castle, but was built in the 1720s as an almost exact copy of Palladio's Villa Rotunda. It was designed in 1723...
in Kent
Kent
Kent is a county in southeast England, and is one of the home counties. It borders East Sussex, Surrey and Greater London and has a defined boundary with Essex in the middle of the Thames Estuary. The ceremonial county boundaries of Kent include the shire county of Kent and the unitary borough of...
, and then of Apethorpe
Apethorpe
Apethorpe is a village and civil parish in East Northamptonshire district of the shire county of Northamptonshire, England. The 2001 census records a population of 133....
in Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire
Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...
, was first a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
and then an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
peer
Peerage
The Peerage is a legal system of largely hereditary titles in the United Kingdom, which constitute the ranks of British nobility and is part of the British honours system...
. Fane was also was tituler head of the Fane
Fane (surname)
Fane is an English surname of Welsh origins that belongs to a family who have produced a number of notable members. The family originated with Ivon Vane, who was a Welsh landowner and mercenary captain in the service of the Black Prince. Ivon Vane or John Fane, as he was known in English, was one...
family.
Biography
Fane was the first surviving son and heir of Sir Thomas Fane (d 1589)Thomas Fane (d 1589)
Thomas Fane was born at Badsel Manor, Tudely, Kent, the son of George Fane, High Sheriff of Kent. The family lived on estates bought in the 14th century from the ransomed monies received for capturing King John II of France at the battle of Poitiers 1356.Sir John Fane or Ivon Vane as he was also...
of Badsell in Kent, by his second wife, the former Mary Neville (c. 1554-1626), sole daughter and heiress of the 6th (and de jure 4th) Baron Bergavenny
Henry Nevill, 6th Baron Bergavenny
Henry Nevill, 6th and de jure 4th Baron Abergavenny K.B. was an English peer. Son of Sir George Nevill, 5th Baron Bergavenny and Mary Stafford daughter of Edward Stafford, 3rd Duke of Buckingham...
(died 1587), by his wife, the former Lady Frances Manners
Frances Neville
Frances Neville, Lady Bergavenny was an English noble and author. She was the daughter of Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland and married Henry Nevill, 6th Baron Bergavenny in 1554 and had a daughter, Mary, who married Sir Thomas Fane and became Baroness le Despencer...
, daughter of the 1st Earl of Rutland
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland
Thomas Manners, 1st Earl of Rutland, 13th Baron de Ros of Helmsley was created an earl by King Henry VIII of England in 1525.-Family background:...
. The Barony of le Despenser was called out of abeyance
Abeyance
Abeyance is a state of expectancy in respect of property, titles or office, when the right to them is not vested in any one person, but awaits the appearance or determination of the true owner. In law, the term abeyance can only be applied to such future estates as have not yet vested or possibly...
in 1604 in favour of Fane's mother, Mary, Lady Fane, and she accordingly became 7th Baroness le Despenser. She was also, by modern doctrine, 7th and 5th Baroness Bergavenny, having inherited the senior two Baronies of Bergavenny from her father on his death, as well as his estates in Kent centred on Mereworth Castle
Mereworth Castle
Mereworth Castle is a grade I listed Palladian country house in Mereworth, Kent, England.Originally the site of a fortified manor licensed in 1332, the present building is not actually a castle, but was built in the 1720s as an almost exact copy of Palladio's Villa Rotunda. It was designed in 1723...
.
Fane's grandfather George Fane, of Badsell in Tudeley
Tudeley
thumb|Chagall windowTudeley is a small village near Tonbridge Kent in South East England.It is the location of All Saints' church, the only church in the world that has all its windows in stained glass designed by Marc Chagall.The East window...
, was Sheriff of Kent 1557-58, married Joan, daughter of William Waller of Groombridge
Groombridge
thumb|right|A house in GroombridgeGroombridge is a village of about 1,600 people. It straddles the border between Kent and East Sussex, in England. The nearest large town is Tunbridge Wells, about away by road....
in 1557, and died in 1571.
Maidstone Grammar School
Maidstone Grammar School is a grammar school located in Maidstone, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1549.-Admissions:The school takes boys at the age of 11 and over by examination and boys and girls at 16+ on their GCSE results. The school currently has almost 1200 students and approximately 120...
and matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College, Cambridge
Queens' College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge, England.The college was founded in 1448 by Margaret of Anjou , and refounded in 1465 by Elizabeth Woodville...
(c. 1595). He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn
Lincoln's Inn
The Honourable Society of Lincoln's Inn is one of four Inns of Court in London to which barristers of England and Wales belong and where they are called to the Bar. The other three are Middle Temple, Inner Temple and Gray's Inn. Although Lincoln's Inn is able to trace its official records beyond...
19 November 1597. He was created a Knight of the Bath
Order of the Bath
The Most Honourable Order of the Bath is a British order of chivalry founded by George I on 18 May 1725. The name derives from the elaborate mediæval ceremony for creating a knight, which involved bathing as one of its elements. The knights so created were known as Knights of the Bath...
at the Coronation of King James I
James I of England
James VI and I was King of Scots as James VI from 24 July 1567 and King of England and Ireland as James I from the union of the English and Scottish crowns on 24 March 1603...
on 25 July 1603. With the support of Lord Cobham
Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham
Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham was an English peer who was implicated in the Main Plot against the rule of James I of England.- Life :...
he was returned as a Knight of the Shire (Member of Parliament) for Kent in 1601. After Cobham's disgrace Fane was returned for the borough seat of Maidstone in 1604, 1614 and 1621, and then that of Peterborough in 1624. On 29 December 1624, he was created Baron of Burghersh, in the County of Sussex, and Earl of Westmorland (1008th on the roll). On his mother's death on 28 June 1626 he succeeded her as 8th Baron le Despenser, and as de jure 8th and 6th Baron Bergavenny.
Lord Westmorland was buried at Apethorpe on 17 April 1629. A monumental inscription is at Mereworth church near Badsell. He left his widow, Mary, who died at Stevenage and was buried at Apethorpe, and many children.
Family
Anthony Mildmay
Sir Anthony Mildmay was a country gentleman from Northamptonshire, England, who served as Member of Parliament for Wiltshire from 1584 to 1586 and as English ambassador in Paris in 1597.-Early life:...
(d. 1617), of Apethorpe Hall
Apethorpe Hall
Apethorpe Hall in Apethorpe, Northamptonshire, England is a Grade I listed country house, dating back to the 15th century.The house is built around three courtyards lying on an east-west axis and is approximately by in area...
, Northamptonshire, by his wife Grace
Grace Mildmay
Grace Mildmay was an English noblewoman, diarist and medical practitioner. Her autobiography is one of the earliest existing autobiographies of an English woman. Originally from Wiltshire, she married Sir Anthony Mildmay in 1567 and moved to Apethorpe Hall, his father's home in Northamptonshire...
(1552-1620) daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Sherington (Sharington) (c. 1518-1581) of Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey
Lacock Abbey in the village of Lacock, Wiltshire, England, was founded in the early 13th century by Ela, Countess of Salisbury, as a nunnery of the Augustinian order.- History :...
, Wiltshire.
Westmorland and Mary had seven boys (six of whom survived him) and six daughters:
- Mildmay FaneMildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of WestmorlandMildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland was an English nobleman, politician, and writer.-Life:One of seven sons of Francis Fane by his wife Mary, granddaughter of Sir Walter Mildmay, Mildmay Fane was born in Kent and educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge . He became MP for Peterborough in 1620...
, the second Earl, poet and a Member of Parliament. - Thomas died in infancy
- Sir Francis Fane of FulbeckFrancis Fane (royalist)Sir Francis Fane of Fulbeck K.B. supported the Royalist cause During the English Civil War.-Biography:Fane was the third, but second surviving, son of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland....
(third but second surviving son), Royalist governor of DoncasterDoncasterDoncaster is a town in South Yorkshire, England, and the principal settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Doncaster. The town is about from Sheffield and is popularly referred to as "Donny"...
, and afterwards of Lincoln CastleLincoln CastleLincoln Castle is a major castle constructed in Lincoln, England during the late 11th century by William the Conqueror on the site of a pre-existing Roman fortress. The castle is unusual in that it has two mottes. It is only one of two such castles in the country, the other being at Lewes in Sussex...
. - Anthony (1613-1643) officer in the Parliamentary army, was killed at taking of Farnham CastleFarnham CastleFarnham Castle is a castle in Farnham, Surrey, England .First built in 1138 by Henri de Blois, grandson of William the Conqueror, Bishop of Winchester, the castle was to become the home of the Bishops of Winchester for over 800 years. The original building was demolished by Henry II in 1155 after...
. - Colonel the hon. George FaneGeorge FaneColonel George Fane DL, JP was the fifth but fourth surviving son of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland by his wife, Mary , daughter and heir of Sir Anthony Mildmay of Apethorpe, co. Northampton....
(fifth but fourth surviving son), Royalist officer and later Member of Parliament. - William
- Robert
Daughters were Grace, Mary, Elizabeth, Rachael, Frances, Catherine.