British Army general
General
Sir Henry Fane
GCB
(26 November 1778 – 24 March 1840) commanded brigades under
Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington
during several battles during the
Peninsular War
, and served both as a member of Parliament and
Commander-in-Chief of India
.
Origins
[
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]
He was the eldest son of Hon.
Henry Fane
(d.1802), of
Fulbeck Hall
, Lincolnshire, younger son of
Thomas Fane, 8th Earl of Westmorland
.
Military career
[
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]
Fane joined the
6th Dragoon Guards
as a
cornet
in 1792 and served as
aide-de-camp
to the
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
,
John Fane
, before obtaining a lieutenancy in the
55th Regiment of Foot
. He was promoted to captain-lieutenant in the 4th Dragoons in 1795; to major the following year and to lieutenant-colonel in 1797, subsequently serving throughout the
rebellion
that year. On 1
January 1805, following his removal to the lieutenant-colonency of the
1st King's Dragoon Guards
, he was appointed aide-de-camp to King
George III
, which made him a colonel in the army.
Peninsular War
[
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]
As a brigadier general, Fane commanded a brigade in Wellesley's army at the
Battle of Vimeiro
in August 1808. His brigade, which included the
1/50th
West Kents
,
5/60th
Royal Americans
, and four companies of the
2/95th
Rifles
, took a key part in repelling the French frontal attacks on Vimeiro village.
[2]
During Sir
John Moore
's expedition in Spain, Fane commanded the 2nd Brigade (1/38th
1st Staffordshire,
1/79th
Cameron Highlanders,
1/82nd
Prince of Wales Volunteers
Foot) in Alexander Mackenzie Fraser's 3rd Division. The 3rd Division was present but not engaged at the
Battle of Corunna
in January 1809.
[3]
Fane missed the
Second Battle of Porto
, since his heavy cavalry brigade (3rd
Prince of Wales
Dragoon Guards, 4th
Queen's Own
Dragoons) was guarding the Portuguese frontier at
Abrantes
. While commanding the same brigade, he fought at the
Battle of Talavera
in July 1809.
[4]
On 13 May 1810, Fane transferred to command a brigade that included the 13th Light Dragoons and four Portuguese mounted regiments. He was present at the
Battle of Bussaco
, while attached to
Rowland Hill
's 2nd Division. He went home ill before the end of 1810.
[5]
On 24 April 1813, Fane was promoted to major general on the staff. Posted to command a brigade consisting of the 3rd Dragoon Guards and the 1st
Royal
Dragoons on 20 May,
[6]
he fought at the
Battle of Vitoria
in June. In that battle, his cavalry fought with Hill's Right Column, being lightly engaged.
[7]
During late 1813, Wellington sent most of his cavalry to the rear since they were almost useless in the rough terrain of the Pyrenees. In January 1814, Fane transferred to lead a brigade that included the 13th and 14th Light Dragoons. There is evidence that Fane effectively commanded both his old and new brigades in the final battles in southern France.
[8]
Wellington called his cavalry forward in February, his light cavalry arriving first.
[9]
Fane's brigade fought at the
Battle of Orthez
and was present at the
Battle of Toulouse
in April.
[10]
For his Peninsula service, Fane was awarded the
Army Gold Cross
with one clasp for the battles of Vimeiro, Corunna, Talavera, Vitoria, and Orthez.
Later career
[
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]
He was made a
KCB
in 1815 and a
GCB
in 1826. Fane sat as MP for
Lyme Regis
in 1802?1816, MP for
Sandwich
in 1829?1830 and MP for
Hastings
in 1830?1831. He was named
Commander-in-Chief of India
in 1835.
He died on 24 March 1840, aged 61.
[11]
His tomb in Fulbeck was designed by
Edward Hodges Baily
.
[12]
Mistress and illegitimate issue
[
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]
Fane formed a "strong attachment" to Isabella Gorges, a daughter of
Hamilton Gorges
, and since 1791 the wife of Edward Cooke,
[13]
described in his will as "of Avon" (i.e.
Avon Tyrrell
,
Sopley
, Hampshire). From 1801 Fane and Mrs Cooke lived together as man and wife, and had six illegitimate children, of which three survived infancy:
[14]
- Col. Henry Fane (1802?1836), life tenant of
Fulbeck Hall
, Lincolnshire, under the will of his father.
[16]
Started his military career as Capt. 4th Regiment, Dragoon Guards. Three of his sons were surviving in 1880.
[17]
- Isabella Fane
(1804?1880), spinster.
[18]
Her letters from India, while acting as her father's hostess between 1835 and 1838, are described as "corrective to the notion that all Englishwomen in India were of the straight-laced
memsahib
type ? snobbish, imperious and racially prejudiced".
[19]
She returned to England but she could not get on with her family and went to live and die in France.
[20]
- Rev. Arthur Fane (1809?1872), vicar of
Warminster
, Wiltshire 1841?1859
[21]
[22]
and later appointed rector of Fulbeck by his father.
[23]
Educated at Exeter College, Oxford.
[23]
Married Lucy Bennett, daughter and heiress of
John Benett
MP of
Pyt House
, Wiltshire, and
Boyton Manor
, Wilts. Six children surviving in 1880.
[17]
Appointed Prebendary of Salisbury. Served as domestic chaplain to his cousin the Earl of Westmorland. His grandson Major Henry Nevile Fane (1883?1947), Coldstream Guards (son of his third son
Sir Edmund Douglas Veitch Fane
(1837?1900) KCMG) married Hon. Harriet Trefusis (d.1958), daughter and senior co-heiress of
Charles Hepburn-Stuart-Forbes-Trefusis, 21st Baron Clinton
(d.1957). Major Henry Fane's grandson (by his son Capt. Charles Nevile Fane) was
Gerard Nevile Mark Fane
, who assumed the additional surname of Trefusis following the death of his grandmother Harriet, and became 22nd
Baron Clinton
in 1965, having claimed the termination of the 1957 abeyance of that title.
References
[
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]
- Glover, Michael.
The Peninsular War 1807?1814.
London: Penguin, 2001.
ISBN
0-14-139041-7
- Oman, Charles.
Wellington's Army, 1809?1814.
London: Greenhill, (1913) 1993.
ISBN
0-947898-41-7
- Philippart, John
(1820).
The Royal Military Calendar or Army Service and Commission Book
. Vol. III.
- Smith, Digby.
The Napoleonic Wars Data Book.
London: Greenhill, 1993.
ISBN
1-85367-276-9
- Zimmermann, Dick. "Battle of Vimeiro," Wargamer's Digest magazine, vol 10, no 12, October 1983.
- ^
Zimmermann, p 33
- ^
Smith, p 278
- ^
Glover, p 373-4
- ^
Oman, p 346
- ^
Oman, p 367
- ^
Smith, p 430
- ^
Oman, p 372
- ^
Glover, p 313
- ^
Smith, p 518
- ^
Urban, Sylvanus:
The Gentleman's Magazine
, vol 4, p 426. William Pickering
- ^
Dictionary of British Sculptors 1660?1851
by Rupert Gunnis
- ^
Fisher, David R.
"FANE, Sir Henry (1778-1840), of Fulbeck, nr. Grantham, Lincs. and Avon Tyrell, Hants"
.
History of Parliament Online
. Retrieved
10 February
2022
.
- ^
Source: his will, copy held by
Lincolnshire Archives, 1 FANE 4/8
. He is stated erroneously in some otherwise reputable biographies to have died without progeny
- ^
Debrett's Peerage, 2015, p. 258,
Baron Clinton
(Fane-Trefusis)
- ^
Per his will, Lincolnshire Archives, 1 FANE 5/37/2
- ^
a
b
Per will of sister Isabella Fane (d.1880)
- ^
Per her will, Lincolnshire Archives, 1 FANE 5/26/1
- ^
Miss Fane in India, edited by John Pemble, Allan Sutton Publishing Ltd 1985, p. 4.
- ^
Stephens, H. M. (23 September 2004).
"Fane, Sir Henry (1778?1840), army officer"
. In Lunt, James (ed.).
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
(online ed.). Oxford University Press.
doi
:
10.1093/ref:odnb/9133
.
ISBN
978-0-19-861412-8
. Retrieved
17 August
2023
.
(Subscription or
UK public library membership
required.)
- ^
Howell, Danny.
"Church And Churchyard Memorials At St. Denys, Warminster, Recorded in 1882"
. Retrieved
29 October
2020
.
- ^
"Warminster: Church".
A History of the County of Wiltshire, Volume 8
.
Victoria County History
. University of London. 1965. pp. 117?124
. Retrieved
10 February
2022
– via British History Online.
- ^
a
b
Foster, Joseph
(1888?1892).
"Fane, Arthur"
.
Alumni Oxonienses: the Members of the University of Oxford, 1715?1886
. Oxford: Parker and Co – via
Wikisource
.
p. 445
External links
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