Henry Vane the Elder

Sir Henry Vane (18 February 1589 – 1655), known as the Elder to distinguish him from his son, was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1654. He served King Charles in many posts including secretary of state, but on the outbreak of the English Civil War joined the Parliamentary cause. He was the third cousin of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland.

Origins and education[edit]

Vane was the eldest son of Henry Vane or Fane of Hadlow, Kent, by his second wife, Margaret^[2] (daughter of Roger Twysden of East Peckham, Kent, and Anne Wyatt).

He matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford, on 15 June 1604 and was admitted a student of Gray's Inn in 1606. He was knighted by James I on 3 March 1611.^[3]

Dismissal by the King[edit]

Vane thought that Strafford's attainder would reconcile king and people. He commented "God send us now a happy end of our troubles and a good peace" on the passing of the bill. He did not see that it put an end to his prospects of remaining in the king's service, as its effects were for a time delayed by the difficulty of finding a suitable successor. He was even appointed one of the five commissioners of the treasury when William Juxon resigned in May 1641.^[3]

In August 1641 Vane accompanied Charles I to Scotland, and as no successor to Francis Windebank, his former colleague in the secretaryship, had yet been appointed, he was charged to correspond with (Sir) Edward Nicholas, clerk of the council. His letters during this period are printed in the ‘Nicholas Papers'. Although his post as treasurer of the household had already been promised to Thomas, second baron Savile (afterwards Earl of Sussex), he was confident that he should keep both it and the secretaryship. But as soon as Charles returned to London he gave the treasurership to Savile, and a few days later dismissed Vane from the secretaryship and all other posts at court (November 1641). It was remarked at the time that Vane had "the very ill luck to be neither loved nor pitied of any man," and the king was convinced of his treachery.^[3]

Parliamentarian[edit]

Vane soon joined the opposition. On 13 December 1641 Pym moved that Vane's name should be added to the committee of thirty-two for Irish affairs. Two months later, when the militia bill was drawn up, parliament nominated Vane as lord lieutenant of Durham (10 February 1642). When the civil war broke out, Durham, which was predominantly royalist in feeling, fell at once under the control of the Royalists, and Vane exercised no real authority there until after its reconquest at the end of 1644. John Lilburne who was bitterly hostile to all the Vanes because Sir Henry had been one of his judges, accused him of causing the loss of Durham by negligence and treachery, but the charge met with no belief from parliament.^[3]

Vane was a member of the Committee of Both Kingdoms from its first establishment (7 February 1644). In April 1645 he was employed as one of its representatives with the Scottish auxiliary army. At the Treaty of Uxbridge Parliament asked the king to make Vane a baron, his favour with the parliament is shown by the ordinances for the payment of his losses during the war. These losses were very considerable, as Raby was three times occupied by the Royalists, and after its recapture became a parliamentary garrison. Vane says, probably with truth, "In my losses, plunderings, rents, and destructions of timber in my woods, I have been damnified to the amount of £16,000 at least".^[3]

Vane sat in the Rump Parliament after Pride's Purge in December 1648, but a proposal to appoint him a member of the English Council of State in February 1650 was rejected by the House.^[2] He was elected MP for Kent in the First Protectorate Parliament.^[4]

Vane died at the age of about 66 in or around May 1655. Royalists reported that he had committed suicide, through remorse for his share in Strafford's death. His widow, Frances, lady Vane, died on 2 August 1663, aged 72, and was buried at Shipbourne, Kent. Portraits of Vane and his wife were painted by Van Dyck.^[3]

(1613–1662), was a Puritan statesman, sixth colonial governor of Massachusetts, Secretary of the Navy, President of the Committee on Safety and one of the most significant leaders of the Long Parliament.^[5]

Sir Henry

George, the second son, born in 1618, was knighted on 22 November 1640. He was parliamentary in September 1645, and apparently treasurer of the committee for the county. Many of his letters to his father on the affairs of the county are printed in the calendar of domestic state papers. He married Elizabeth, daughter and heiress of Sir Lionel Maddison of Rogerly, Durham, and was buried at Long Newton in the same county on 1 May 1679.

High Sheriff of Durham

(3rd son's name?)

Charles, the fourth son, at Magdalen College, Oxford, on 17 March 1637. On 16 January 1650 the parliament appointed him agent of the Commonwealth at Lisbon, in which capacity he demanded Prince Rupert's expulsion from Portuguese ports, but was obliged to leave and take refuge on board Blake's fleet.^[3]

matriculated

William was a soldier in Dutch service.

Walter, knight, was also a soldier in the Dutch service. He seems to have been royalist in his sympathies, and a large number of intercepted letters from him to friends in England are printed in the ' Papers.' In 1665 Charles II employed him as envoy to the elector of Brandenburg. Vane was colonel of a Regiment of Foot in the English service in 1667, and on 12 August 1668 was appointed colonel of what was known as the Holland regiment. He was killed serving under the Prince of Orange at the Battle of Seneffe in August 1674, and was buried at the Hague.^[3]

Thurloe

Margaret married of Halland, Sussex.

Sir Thomas Pelham, 2nd Baronet

Frances married of Pett, Sussex.

Sir Robert Honywood

Anne married Sir Thomas Liddell of , Durham

Ravensworth

Elizabeth married Sir Francis Vincent of , Surrey.^[3]

Stoke d'Abernon

In fiction[edit]

In the alternate history 1632 Series, Vane appears in the short story "The Masque." King Charles read about his future execution in a book that is sent back in time (along with the entire town it's in). Vane flees England before he can be executed, and ends up serving in a government-in-exile along with Stafford. Upon reading about their future rivalry, Vane adopts the same attitude toward Stafford even though the circumstances leading to their original enmity have not yet happened and never will.

This article incorporates text from a publication now in the : Firth, C. H. (1885–1900). "Vane, Henry (1589-1655)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co.

public domain

Attribution:

, ed. (1911). "Vane, Sir Henry" . Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 27 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. p. 892.

Chisholm, Hugh

Hutchinson, John (1892). . Men of Kent and Kentishmen (Subscription ed.). Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. p. 137.

"Sir Henry Vane"

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