Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland

Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland KB (1 February 1580 – 23 March 1629), styled Sir Francis Fane between 1603 and 1624 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.

Origins

Francis Fane was the eldest surviving son and heir of Sir Thomas Fane (d.1589) of Badsell in Kent, by his second wife Mary Neville (c. 1554-1626), sole daughter and heiress of Henry Nevill, 6th Baron Bergavenny (d.1587) (de jure 4th Baron Bergavenny) by his wife Lady Frances Manners. Fane was the senior representative of the Fane family of Mereworth, near Maidstone, Kent, and then of Apethorpe in Northamptonshire. His younger brother was George Fane of Burston.

Career

Fane was educated at Maidstone Grammar School and in about 1595 matriculated at Queens' College, Cambridge. He was admitted to Lincoln's Inn on 19 November 1597.

In 1601, with the support of Henry Brooke, 11th Baron Cobham, Fane was returned as a Member of Parliament for Kent. He was created a Knight of the Bath at the Coronation of King James I on 25 July 1603. After Cobham's disgrace Fane was elected MP for Maidstone in 1604. He was re-elected MP for Maidstone in 1614 and in 1621. In 1624 he was elected MP for Peterborough. 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 & progeny

On 15 February 1598/99 Fane married Mary Mildmay (d. 9 April 1640), daughter and eventual sole heiress of Sir Anthony Mildmay (d. 1617), of Apethorpe Hall, Northamptonshire, British Ambassador to France, by his wife Grace Sherington (1552–1620) daughter and co-heir of Sir Henry Sherington (alias Sharington) (c. 1518-1581) of Lacock Abbey, Wiltshire. Westmorland had by Mary Mildmay seven sons (six of whom survived him) and six daughters:

Sons

1. Mildmay Fane, 2nd Earl of Westmorland (24 January 1602 – 12 February 1666), a poet and Member of Parliament.
2. Thomas Fane, died in infancy
3. Sir Francis Fane (c. 1611–1681?) of Fulbeck, third but second surviving son. He was a Royalist governor of Doncaster, and afterwards of Lincoln Castle. He was the great-grandfather of Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland.
4. 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.
5. Col. George Fane (c. 1616 – April 1663), fifth but fourth surviving son. A Royalist officer and later Member of Parliament.
6. William Fane
7. Robert Fane

Daughters

• Grace Fane (d. 1633) married James Home, 2nd Earl of Home.
• Mary Fane (1606-1634) married, after 18 May 1625, Dutton Gerard, 3rd Baron Gerard (1613-1640), grandson of Thomas Gerard, 1st Baron Gerard
• Elizabeth Fane, married Sir John Cope, 3rd Baronet, and afterward William Cope, by whom she was grandmother of Sir John Cope
• Rachel Fane (1614-1681), wife of Henry Bourchier, 5th Earl of Bath (1593-1654), of Tawstock Court, Devon. The marriage was without progeny, whereupon the earldom became extinct. Her lifesize marble statue survives in Tawstock Church.
• Catherine Fane.

Death & burial

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.

Literature

Some Ancestors