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Henry Vane the Younger

Sir Henry Vane (baptised 26 March 1613 – 14 June 1662), often referred to as Harry Vane and Henry Vane the Younger to distinguish him from his father, Henry Vane the Elder, was an English politician, statesman, and colonial governor. He was briefly present in North America, serving one term as the governor of the Massachusetts Bay Colony, and supported the creation of Roger Williams' Rhode Island Colony and Harvard College. A proponent of religious tolerance, as governor, he defended Anne Hutchinson[2] and her right to teach religious topics in her home which put him in direct conflict with the Puritan leaders in the Massachusetts Colony.[3][4] He returned to England after losing re-election and eventually, Hutchinson was banned from the colony.[5]

Sir
Henry Vane the Younger

John Haynes

John Winthrop

Sir William Russell

Sir John Penington

Sir William Russell

Richard Hutchinson

  • No Parliaments convened 1629-1640

  • Not represented in the Barebones' Parliament

Henry Rolle

The Earl of Pembroke

  • Not represented in the Barebones' nor First and Second Protectorates Parliament

  • Not represented in the restored Rump Parliament

  • John Ramsden

  • John Ramsden

baptised 26 March 1613
Debden, Essex, England

14 June 1662(1662-06-14) (aged 49)
Tower Hill, London

He was a leading Parliamentarian during the English Civil War and worked closely with Oliver Cromwell. He played no part in the execution of King Charles I, and refused to take oaths that expressed approval of the act. Vane served on the Council of State that functioned as the government executive during the Interregnum, but split with Cromwell over issues of governance and removed himself from power when Cromwell dissolved Parliament in 1653. He returned to power during the short-lived Commonwealth period in 1659–1660. His fight for government reform, a constitution along with civil and religious liberties[6][7][8] made him a man "Too Dangerous to Let Live" in King Charles' II view. Therefore, he was arrested under orders from King Charles II following his restoration to the throne. After long debate, Vane was exempted from the Indemnity and Oblivion Act, and was thus denied amnesty granted to most people for their roles in the Civil War and Interregnum.


Although he was formally granted clemency by Charles II, he was indicted on high treason by a Middlesex grand jury after charges were presented by the king's attorney general Sir Geoffrey Palmer in 1662.[9] In a court proceeding in which he was denied counsel and the opportunity to properly prepare a defence, he was convicted by a Royalist jury. Charles withdrew his earlier clemency, and Vane was beheaded on Tower Hill on 14 June 1662.


Vane was recognised by his political peers as a competent administrator and a wily and persuasive negotiator and politician. His politics was driven by a desire for religious tolerance in an era when governments were used to establish official churches and suppress dissenting views. Although his views were in a small minority, he was able to successfully build coalitions to advance his agenda. His actions contributed to both the rise and downfall of the English Commonwealth. His books and pamphlets written on political and religious subjects are still analysed today. His writing A Healing Question advocated for a constitutional convention pre-dating the American Constitutional Convention by over a century.[10] Vane is remembered in Massachusetts and Rhode Island as an early champion of freedom.


The New England Historical and Genealogical Society wrote of him in 1848:

Family[edit]

Vane and his wife Frances had ten children. Of their five sons, only the last, Christopher, had children, and succeeded to his father's estates. He was created Baron Barnard by William III.[206]

A Brief Answer to a Certain Declaration, 1637

The Retired Man's Meditations, 1655

A Healing Question Propounded, 1656

Of Love of God and Union with God, 1657?

The Proceeds of the Protector ... Against Sir Henry Vane, Knight, 1658

A Needful Corrective or Balance in Popular Government, 1659

Two Treatises: "Epistle General to the Mystical Body of Christ" and "The Face of the Times", 1662

The Cause of the People of England Stated, 1689 (written 1660–1662; the title may have been intended to be "Case" instead of "Cause")

A Pilgrimage into the Land of Promise, 1664

The Trial of Sir Henry Vane, Knight, 1662

A number of Vane's speeches to Parliament and other bodies were printed during his lifetime or shortly after, including The Speech Intended to Have been Spoken on the Scaffold, published in 1662.[207]


Vane's other printed works include:[208]


The last work contains, in addition to his last speech and details relating to the trial, The People's Case Stated, The Valley of Jehoshaphat, and Meditations concerning Man's Life.[209]


Some contemporary works were incorrectly attributed to him. Clarendon, in his History of the Rebellion, assigns to Vane credit for one speech in support of the Self-Denying Ordinance; later historians find this attribution spurious. The Speech against Richard Cromwell is probably the composition of a later writer,[207] while The Light Shining out of Darkness may have been written by Henry Stubbe.[209]

A Healing Question

"Dec 1659 British Civil War Timeline"

Hutchinson, John (1892). . Men of Kent and Kentishmen (Subscription ed.). Canterbury: Cross & Jackman. pp. 137–138.

"Sir Henry Vane" 

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