John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland
Encyclopedia
John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland KG
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

, PC (1 June 1759 – 15 December 1841), styled Lord Burghersh between 1771 and 1774, was a British Tory politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, who served in most of the cabinets of the period, primarily as Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...

.

Background

Westmorland was the son of John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland
John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland
John Fane, 9th Earl of Westmorland was an English earl. He succeeded his father the 8th Earl as Earl and as MP for Lyme Regis from 1762 .-Lord Burghersh:...

, and Augusta, daughter of Lord Montague Bertie. He succeeded in the earldom on the death of his father in 1774.

Political career

In 1789 Westmorland was appointed Joint Postmaster General
United Kingdom Postmaster General
The Postmaster General of the United Kingdom is a defunct Cabinet-level ministerial position in HM Government. Aside from maintaining the postal system, the Telegraph Act of 1868 established the Postmaster General's right to exclusively maintain electric telegraphs...

 by William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger
William Pitt the Younger was a British politician of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. He became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24 . He left office in 1801, but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death in 1806...

 and sworn of the Privy Council. Already the same year he was appointed Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
Lord Lieutenant of Ireland
The Lord Lieutenant of Ireland was the British King's representative and head of the Irish executive during the Lordship of Ireland , the Kingdom of Ireland and the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland...

 by Pitt, a post he held until 1794. From 1795 to 1798 he was Master of the Horse
Master of the Horse
The Master of the Horse was a position of varying importance in several European nations.-Magister Equitum :...

 under Pitt. The latter year Pitt made him Lord Privy Seal
Lord Privy Seal
The Lord Privy Seal is the fifth of the Great Officers of State in the United Kingdom, ranking beneath the Lord President of the Council and above the Lord Great Chamberlain. The office is one of the traditional sinecure offices of state...

, a position he would hold under five prime Ministers (Pitt, Addington
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth
Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, PC was a British statesman, and Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804....

, Pitt again, Portland
William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland
William Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, KG, PC was a British Whig and Tory statesman, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility—Duke,...

, Perceval
Spencer Perceval
Spencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...

 and Liverpool
Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool
Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool KG PC was a British politician and the longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom since the Union with Ireland in 1801. He was 42 years old when he became premier in 1812 which made him younger than all of his successors to date...

) for the next 35 years, except between 1806 and 1807 when Lord Grenville was in office.

Westmorland was also Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire
Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire
Below is a list of people who have served as Lord Lieutenant of Northamptonshire. Since 1735, all Lords Lieutenant have also been Custos Rotulorum of Northamptonshire. The lieutenancy included the Soke of Peterborough until 1965, when the Lord Lieutenant of Huntingdonshire became Lord Lieutenant of...

 between 1828 and 1841. He was made a Knight of the Garter
Order of the Garter
The Most Noble Order of the Garter, founded in 1348, is the highest order of chivalry, or knighthood, existing in England. The order is dedicated to the image and arms of St...

 in 1793.

Family

Lord Westmorland married Sarah Anne Child
Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmorland
Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmorland was the only child of Robert Child, the principal shareholder in the banking firm Child & Co...

 (28 August 1764 - 9 November 1793), the only daughter and heiress of wealthy banker, Robert Child, against her father's wishes, at Gretna Green
Gretna Green
Gretna Green is a village in the south of Scotland famous for runaway weddings. It is in Dumfries and Galloway, near the mouth of the River Esk and was historically the first village in Scotland, following the old coaching route from London to Edinburgh. Gretna Green has a railway station serving...

 on 20 May 1782. Child consequently cut his daughter and her sons and their descendants out of his will, and made his daughter's daughters his heirs to prevent the Fanes from benefitting from this elopement. Their eldest daughter, Lady Sarah Sophia Fane
Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey
Sarah Sophia Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey , was an English noblewoman, the daughter of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland and Sarah Anne Child. Her mother was the only child of Robert Child, the principal shareholder in the banking firm Child & Co...

 (1785-1867), made testamentary heiress of her maternal grandfather, married George Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey
George Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey
George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey GCH, PC , styled Viscount Grandison until 1805, was a British courtier and Conservative politician.-Background and education:...

; her husband assumed the additional surname of Child.

They had one son and four daughters:
  • John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland
    John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland
    General John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland GCB, GCH, PC , styled Lord Burghersh until 1841, was a British soldier, politician, diplomat and musician.-Background:...

     (3 February 1784-16 October 1859), who succeeded his father.
  • Lady Sarah Sophia Fane
    Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey
    Sarah Sophia Child Villiers, Countess of Jersey , was an English noblewoman, the daughter of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland and Sarah Anne Child. Her mother was the only child of Robert Child, the principal shareholder in the banking firm Child & Co...

     (4 March 1785 - 26 January 1867) who married in 1804 George Child Villiers, 5th Earl of Jersey and became heiress to the Child fortune.
  • Lady Augusta Fane (1786-1871, who married firstly in 1804 (divorced 1809) Lord Boringdon
    John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley
    John Parker, 1st Earl of Morley FRS , known as Lord Boringdon from 1788 to 1815, was a British peer and politician....

    , later Earl of Morley, and in 1809 Arthur Paget
    Arthur Paget (diplomat)
    Sir Arthur Paget GCB, PC was a British diplomat and politician.-Family and early life:Arthur Paget was the third son of Henry Paget, 1st Earl of Uxbridge and his wife Jane Chamagné daughter of Arthur Chamagné, Dean of Clonmacnoise in Ireland. He was a younger brother of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess...

     (1771-1840), a younger brother of Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
    Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
    Field Marshal Henry William Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, KG, GCB, GCH, PC , styled Lord Paget between 1784 and 1812 and known as The Earl of Uxbridge between 1812 and 1815, was a British military leader and politician, now chiefly remembered for leading the charge of the heavy cavalry against...

    .
  • Lady Maria Fane (1787-1834) who in 1805 married Viscount Duncannon
    John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough
    John William Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough PC , known as Viscount Duncannon from 1793 to 1844, was a British Whig politician...

    , later 4th Earl of Bessborough
    Earl of Bessborough
    Earl of Bessborough is a title in the Peerage of Ireland. It was created in 1739 for Brabazon Ponsonby, 2nd Viscount Duncannon, who had previously represented Newtownards and County Kildare in the Irish House of Commons...

    ; their sixth son Spencer Ponsonby-Fane
    Spencer Ponsonby-Fane
    Sir Spencer Cecil Brabazon Ponsonby, later Ponsonby-Fane, GCB ISO was an English cricketer and civil servant.He was born in 1824 in Mayfair, the sixth son of John Ponsonby, 4th Earl of Bessborough.-Cricket:...

     inherited Brympton d'Evercy
    Brympton d'Evercy
    Brympton d'Evercy is a manor house near Yeovil in the county of Somerset, England. It has been described as the most beautiful house in England, in a country of architecturally pleasing country houses; whatever the truth of that statement, in 1927 the British magazine Country Life published a set...

     from his half-aunt Lady Georgiana.
  • Lady Charlotte Fane (1793-1822), died unmarried.


The Countess of Westmorland died relatively young in 1793, aged only 29, from undisclosed causes. Lord Westmorland married secondly Jane, daughter of Richard Huck-Saunders, in 1800. After some years of marriage, they later separated and she lived at Brympton d'Evercy
Brympton d'Evercy
Brympton d'Evercy is a manor house near Yeovil in the county of Somerset, England. It has been described as the most beautiful house in England, in a country of architecturally pleasing country houses; whatever the truth of that statement, in 1927 the British magazine Country Life published a set...

. By his second wife, he had three sons and two daughters, of whom only the eldest child Lady Georgiana Fane outlived both parents.
  • Lady (Cicely Jane) Georgina Fane (25 January 1801-1875), died unmarried.
  • Hon. Charles Saunders John Fane (1802-1810)
  • Hon. Col. Henry Sutton Fane (1804-1857), died unmarried.
  • Hon. Montagu Augustus Villiers Fane (1805-1857), died unmarried.
  • Lady Evelina Fane (1807-1808)


Lord Westmorland died in December 1841, aged 82, and was succeeded in the earldom by his only son from his first marriage, John. The Countess of Westmorland died in March 1857.
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