Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland (1 February 1580 – 23 March 1629), KB (styled Sir Francis Fane between 1603 and 1624[1]) of Mereworth in Kent and of Apethorpe in Northamptonshire was an English landowner and politician who sat in the House of Commons between 1601 and 1624 and then was raised to the Peerage as Earl of Westmorland.
The earliest proven recorded ancestor of the Fane family of Kent is "Henry a Vane" (d. 1456/57) of Tonbridge, Kent, thrice-great-grandfather of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland. According to The Complete Peerage "the long line of Welsh descent, as given in the Heraldic Visitation of Kent 1574, is spurious".[8] His younger brother was George Fane of Burston.
Career
Francis Fane, in coronation robes as worn 2 February 1625 or 26.
After Cobham's disgrace, Fane was elected as a Member of Parliament for Maidstone in 1604. He was re-elected MP for Maidstone in 1614 and in 1621. In 1624, he was elected MP for Peterborough,[7] Northamptonshire, near his wife's home at Apethorpe. On 29 December 1624, he was created Baron 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 4th Baron le Despenser, and as de jure 8th and 6th Baron Bergavenny.
Marriage and children
Fane's wife, Mary Mildmay, Countess of Westmorland.
On 15 February 1598/99 Fane married Mary Mildmay (died 9 April 1640), daughter and eventual sole heiress of Sir Anthony Mildmay (d. 1617), of Apethorpe Hall near the City of Peterborough in Northamptonshire, British Ambassador to France, by his wife Grace Sherington (1552–1620) a daughter and co-heiress of Sir Henry Sherington (alias Sharington) (c. 1518–1581) of Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire. By Mary Mildmay he had seven sons (six of whom survived him) and six daughters:[12]
Anthony Fane (1613–1643), a colonel in the Parliamentary army, who suffered a shot wound to the cheek at the siege of Farnham Castle on 9 December 1642 and died at his home in Kingston upon Thames early the following year.[13] He married Amabel Benn who after his death married Henry Grey, 10th Earl of Kent.
Col. George Fane (c. 1616 – April 1663), fifth but fourth surviving son. A Royalist officer and later Member of Parliament.
Westmorland was buried at Apethorpe on 17 April 1629. A monumental inscription survives in Mereworth Church near Badsell. He was survived by his wife Mary Mildmay, who died at Stevenage and was buried at Apethorpe, and many children.
References
^ a bMosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, Vol. III (107th ed.). Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd. p. 4134.
^Cokayne et al. 2000, Vol. II, p. 34
^Cokayne et al. 2000, Vol. V, p. 635
^Cokayne et al. 2000, Vol. II, p. 19
^Edward Hasted, 'Parishes: Mereworth', in The History and Topographical Survey of the County of Kent: Volume 5 (Canterbury, 1798), pp. 70-90 [1]
^ a bFrancis Fane, historyofparliament.online.org. Accessed 30 December 2022.
^Cokayne, G. E., Geoffrey H. White, ed. (1959). The Complete Peerage, or a history of the House of Lords and all its members from the earliest times, volume XII part 2: Tracton to Zouche. 12.2 (2nd ed.). London: The St. Catherine Press, p.565, note (f)
^"Fane, Francis (FN595F)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
Cokayne, George Edward; Gibbs, Vicary; Doubleday, Herbert Arthur; White, Geoffrey Henllan; Walden, Thomas Scott-Ellis, Lord Howard de (2000) [1910]. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant, new ed. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: multiple names: authors list (link)
Collins, Arthur; Brydges, Egerton (1812). Collins's Peerage of England; Genealogical, Biographical, and Historical. Vol. 3. London: F. C. and J. Rivington, Otridge and son.
Gunnis, Rupert (1957). Eridge Castle and the Family of Nevill. Stanford Print.
Hasler, P. W., ed. (1981). The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1558-1603. HMSO. ISBN 978-0118875011.
Mercer, Malcolm (2004). "Fane, Sir Thomas (d. 1589)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9143. Retrieved 22 December 2006. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
Salis, de, R. W. (2003). Quadrennial di Fano Saliceorum. London.{{cite book}}: CS1 maint: location missing publisher (link)