William Andreas Salius Fane de Salis (27 October 1812 – 3 August 1896) was a businessman, colonialist, and barrister.

De Salis was the third son of Jerome, 4th Count de Salis-Soglio

Jerome, 4th Count de Salis-Soglio

Jerome de Salis, 4th Count de Salis-Soglio DL, JP, FRS , Illustris et Magnificus was an Anglo-Grison-Irish noble, visionary, vegetarian and landowner....

 (d. 1836), by his third wife, Henrietta Foster (d. 1856). Peter John Fane, Count de Salis

Peter, 5th Count de Salis-Soglio

Peter John de Salis, 5th Count de Salis-Soglio DL, JP was a soldier and landowner in the Irish counties Limerick and Armagh. He was Grand Prior of the Venerable English Langue of the Order of St...

 was an elder half-brother. William Foster Stawell

William Foster Stawell

Sir William Foster Stawell KCMG was a British colonial statesman and a Chief Justice of the Supreme Court of Victoria, Australia.-Early life:...

 was a first cousin, and the poet Lord De Tabley

John Warren, 3rd Baron de Tabley

John Byrne Leicester Warren, 3rd Baron De Tabley was an English poet, numismatist, botanist and an authority on bookplates.-Biography:...

 was a nephew. Colonel Bisse-Challoner

Thomas-Chaloner Bisse-Challoner (1788-1872)

Thomas-Chaloner Bisse-Challoner was an English militia colonel, magistrate and Deputy Lieutenant..-Life:He was the only son of the Rev...

 was a brother-in-law.

Born in St. Marylebone, Westminster, brought up in County Louth

County Louth

County Louth is a county of Ireland. It is part of the Border Region and is also located in the province of Leinster. It is named after the town of Louth. Louth County Council is the local authority for the county...

 he was educated at Eton (1824–27); Heidelberg University (1828–29); and Oriel College, Oxford (1830–1834, Classics, 4th class). He was called to the Bar, 30 January 1836; and was at 3 Brick Court, Inner Temple

Inner Temple

The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court in London. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wales, an individual must belong to one of these Inns...

, by 1840. He was the revising barrister in Northants (1839) and then Nottingham.

Professional life

De Salis visited Australia in 1842, 1844 and 1848 to pursue business opportunities in the Australian wool industry, then rapidly expanding. His younger brother Leopold Fabius Fane de Salis

Cuppacumbalong Homestead

Cuppacumbalong is an historic homestead located near the southern outskirts of Canberra in the Australian Capital Territory. It is also the name of a former sheep and cattle grazing property that surrounded the homestead near the junction of the Murrumbidgee and Gudgenby Rivers. The word...

 had migrated there in 1840. William became, with John Thacker, a partner in Thacker & Co, Jardine Matheson’s affiliated house in Sydney, but resigned from 1 July 1847. By 1848 he owned with Robert Towns

Robert Towns

Robert Towns was an Australian businessman, pastoralist, and founder of Townsville, Queensland.Towns was born at Longhorsley, Northumberland, England, on 10 November 1794. This is the date usually given, and it agrees with his death notice in the Sydney Morning Herald of 12 April 1873 which stated...

 a 345 ton barque, the Statesman. This they sold, March 1854, for $16,500, she having had an accident 'on her passage up to China from Sydney' trading sandalwood, tea pines...

On his return to England De Salis joined the Grand Junction Canal

Grand Junction Canal

The Grand Junction Canal is a canal in England from Braunston in Northamptonshire to the River Thames at Brentford, with a number of branches. The mainline was built between 1793 and 1805, to improve the route from the Midlands to London, by-passing the upper reaches of the River Thames near Oxford...

 Co in 1850 and held the following appointments:

• Directorship of the Union Bank of Australia;
• Director of the Australian Agricultural Co (AAco) and its offshoot the Peel River
  Peel River
  The Peel River may refer to:*Peel River in Australia*Peel River in the Yukon and Northwest Territories, Canada...
  
   Land and Mineral Co Ltd;
• Director of the Marine and General Mutual Life Assurance Society;
• Director and later chairman of the Peninsular & Oriental Steam Navigation Company. He was a director between 1851–1895 and was elected chairman in 1878-1881;
• Deputy-chairman then chairman of the London Chartered Bank of Australia
  Standard Chartered Bank
  Standard Chartered PLC is a multinational financial services company headquartered in London, United Kingdom with operations in more than seventy countries...
  
   from 1852 to 1874/80.

Personal life

In the early 1850s he lived between the Jerusalem Coffee House; Dawley Lodge (near Hillingdon); 1, Upper Belgrave street; 24 Wilton street, and 107 Eaton square. From the late 1850s he lived at Dawley Court, near Hillingdon

Hillingdon

Hillingdon is a suburban area within the London Borough of Hillingdon, situated 14.2 miles west of Charing Cross.Much of Hillingdon is represented as the Hillingdon East ward within the local authority, Hillingdon Council...

, Middlesex and Teffont Manor, Teffont Evias

Teffont Evias

Teffont Evias, also Teffont Ewyas, past alternative spellings including Tevont Evias, is a small village and former civil parish in the south of Wiltshire, England. The present buildings are mostly of local stone, and several are thatched...

, Wiltshire, home of his wife Emily Harriet (d 24 July 1896), eldest daughter of John Thomas Mayne, who he had married on 12 March 1859. He was a Fellow of the Geological Society and of the Royal Geographical Society

Royal Geographical Society

The Royal Geographical Society is a British learned society founded in 1830 for the advancement of geographical sciences...

, JP for Middlesex, (1868), Lord of the Manor and Patron of the Living of Teffont, and JP for Wiltshire. He co-founded the Harlington

Harlington, London

Harlington is a suburban area in the London Borough of Hillingdon, on the northern perimeter of London Heathrow Airport. It is situated west of Charing Cross.-Etymology:...

, Hounslow

Hounslow

Hounslow is the principal town in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development situated 10.6 miles west south-west of Charing Cross. It forms a post town in the TW postcode area.-Etymology:...

 and Cranford

Cranford, London

Cranford is a place in the London Borough of Hounslow. It is a suburban development located 12.4 miles west of Charing Cross and on the eastern perimeter of London Heathrow Airport....

 Cottage Hospital

Cottage Hospital

The original concept of a cottage hospital was a small rural hospital having up to 25 beds. One advantage of such a hospital in villages was the familiarity the local physician might have with their patient that may affect their treatment...

 in 1884. He left Dawley to his youngest brother's second son, one of whose younger brothers was Charles Fane de Salis

Charles Fane de Salis

Charles Fane de Salis , MA, DD , was Bishop of Taunton from 1911 to 1930.-Biography:Born in Fringford, Oxfordshire on 18th or 9 March 1860 into an occasionally clerical family, he was educated at Eton and Exeter College, Oxford. Ordained in 1883 he was Curate at St...

.

At his death he left effects valued at £147,382 6s 7d. His nephew Rodolph was executor. His wife had died a mere ten days earlier leaving £1,930.

Works

• Reminiscences of Travel in China and India in 1848, 1892 (private circulation).
• Introductory Remarks to a Residence In Australia, And To Travels In China And India, (a short pamphlet).
• Original Poems with Translations from the German of Schiller, (private circulation).

His Reminiscences of Travel in China and India in 1848 contains lithographs, after his own sketches, of Mount Ophir

Mount Ophir

Mount Ophir, or more commonly known by its Malay name, Gunung Ledang, is a mountain situated in the Gunung Ledang National Park located in Ledang District , Malaysia. The summit is located between the border of Muar and Malacca. Standing at 1,276 m , with a clear trail leading to the peak, the...

, Pulo Brassey, Cape Comorin, Cochin harbour, Cannamore

Kannur

Kannur , also known as Cannanore, is a city in Kannur district in the Indian state of Kerala. It is the administrative headquarters of the District of Kannur and 518km north of state capital Trivandrum. During British rule in India, Kannur was known by its old name Cannanore, which is still in...

, Mangalore

Mangalore

Mangalore is the chief port city of the Indian state of Karnataka. It is located about west of the state capital, Bangalore. Mangalore lies between the Arabian Sea and the Western Ghat mountain ranges, and is the administrative headquarters of the Dakshina Kannada district in south western...

, Marmagoa, the Island of Socotra

Socotra

Socotra , also spelt Soqotra, is a small archipelago of four islands in the Indian Ocean. The largest island, also called Socotra, is about 95% of the landmass of the archipelago. It lies some east of the Horn of Africa and south of the Arabian Peninsula. The island is very isolated and through...

, cantonments of Aden

Aden

Aden is a seaport city in Yemen, located by the eastern approach to the Red Sea , some 170 kilometres east of Bab-el-Mandeb. Its population is approximately 800,000. Aden's ancient, natural harbour lies in the crater of an extinct volcano which now forms a peninsula, joined to the mainland by a...

 from the Kyber pass, Mocha

Mocha, Yemen

Mocha or Mokha is a port city on the Red Sea coast of Yemen. Until it was eclipsed in the 19th century by Aden and Hodeida, Mocha was the principal port for Yemen's capital Sana'a.-Overview:...

, Jebel Tear

Jabal al-Tair Island

Jabal al-Tair Island is a roughly oval volcanic island northwest of the constricted Bab al-Mandab passage at the mouth of the Red Sea, about half way between Yemen and Eritrea...

, Jebel Wady, Lahuna, the coast of Nubia

Nubia

Nubia is a region along the Nile river, which is located in northern Sudan and southern Egypt.There were a number of small Nubian kingdoms throughout the Middle Ages, the last of which collapsed in 1504, when Nubia became divided between Egypt and the Sennar sultanate resulting in the Arabization...

, the mountains of Abyssinia, Mount Zapheran, Tagus

Tagus

The Tagus is the longest river on the Iberian Peninsula. It is long, in Spain, along the border between Portugal and Spain and in Portugal, where it empties into the Atlantic Ocean at Lisbon. It drains an area of . The Tagus is highly utilized for most of its course...

, Gibraltar and Malta.

Ancestors

Some of William De Salis's ancestors

William Fane de Salis	Jerome, Count De Salis Jerome, 4th Count de Salis-Soglio Jerome de Salis, 4th Count de Salis-Soglio DL, JP, FRS , Illustris et Magnificus was an Anglo-Grison-Irish noble, visionary, vegetarian and landowner....	Peter, Count de Salis Peter, 3rd Count de Salis Peter de Salis, Count of the Holy Roman Empire Peter de Salis, Count of the Holy Roman Empire (Nobile Signor Don Pietro Podesta di Salis) Peter de Salis, Count of the Holy Roman Empire (Nobile Signor Don Pietro Podesta di Salis) (28 June 1738, parish of St. James, Westminster -...	Jerome, Count de Salis Jerome, 2nd Count de Salis Jérôme de Salis, 2nd Count de Salis-Soglio was a Fellow of the Royal Society, and sometime British Resident in the Grisons...
			Hon. Mary Fane, daughter of 1st Lord Fane.
		Anna v. Salis-Soglio Soglio, Switzerland Soglio is a former municipality in the district of Maloja in the Swiss canton of Graubünden close to the border with Italy. It's now part of the municipality of Bregaglia.-Geography:...	Giovanni v. Salis-Soglio (1707–1790) (casa Battista).
			Katherina Barbara (1711–1788), daughter of Rudolfo v. Salis-Soglio (1652–1735) (casa di Mezzo).
	Henrietta Foster (1785–1856).	Rt. Rev. William Foster William Foster (bishop) William Foster, D.D. was a Church of Ireland bishop.The younger son of Anthony Foster he was chaplain to the Irish House of Commons . Then successively Bishop of Cork and Ross , Bishop of Kilmore and Bishop of Clogher.-Family:He married Catharina-Letitia daughter of Rev. Dr... , DD (1744–1797).	Lord Chief Baron of the (Irish) Exchequer, Anthony Foster (1705–1779), of Collon Collon Collon is a village and townland in the south west corner of County Louth, Ireland on the N2 national primary road. The village is home to the Cistercian Abbey of New Mellifont.-Facilities:... , co. Louth. They married in 1736. His nephew, John Foster, was the first husband of Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire Elizabeth Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire , , is best known as an early woman novelist, and as the close friend of Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire... .
			Elizabeth (d.1744), daughter of William Burgh, of Bert, co. Kildare.
		Catharina-Letitia Leslie (d. 23 November 1814).	Rev. Dr. Henry Leslie (1719–1803), LLD, of Ballibay Ballybay Ballybay, County Monaghan is a town in County Monaghan in Ireland, centered on the crossroads of the R183 and R162 regional roads. The name in English means "The Mouth of the Ford of the Birches".- Town layout :... , co. Monaghan. A scion of the family of the Earl of Rothes Earl of Rothes Earl of Rothes is a title in the Peerage of Scotland. It was created in 1458 for George Leslie, 1st Lord Leslie. He had already been created Lord Leslie in 1445, also in the Peerage of Scotland. His grandson, the third Earl, having only succeeded his elder brother in March 1513, was killed at the... . Prebend of Tullycorbet and then of Tandragee (44 years). His father, Rev. Peter Leslie, was rector of Ahoghill Ahoghill Ahoghill or Ahohill is a large village in County Antrim, Northern Ireland, four miles from Ballymena. It has a population of 3,055 people . It is within the Borough of Ballymena.... , and married Jane, the daughter of Rt. Rev. Dr. (Anthony) Dopping, Bishop of Meath Bishop of Meath The Bishop of Meath is an episcopal title which takes its name after the ancient Kingdom of Meath. In the Roman Catholic Church it remains as a separate title, but in the Church of Ireland it has been united with another bishopric.-History:... .
			Catherine, daughter of the Very Rev. Charles Meredyth, of Newtown, co. Meath. Dean of Ardfert Ardfert Ardfert is a village in County Kerry, Ireland. Historically a religious centre, the economy of the locality is driven by agriculture and its position as a dormitory town, being only 8 km from Tralee.-Origin:... , by his wife Letitia Vesey.