Thomas Fane (died 1589)


Thomas Fane of Badsell Manor in the parish of Tudeley in Kent, and of Mereworth Castle, Kent, was Sheriff of Kent. He is not to be confused with his younger brother, Thomas Fane, of Burston, Hunton, Kent, a Member of Parliament for Dover.

Origins

Not to be confused with his younger brother also named Thomas Fane, he was born circa 1538 at Badsell, the elder son of George Fane of Badsell, Sheriff of Kent in 1557 and 1558, by his first wife Joan Waller, daughter of William Waller of Groombridge, Sheriff of Kent in 1530. George Fane was the son of Richard Fane by his wife Agnes Stidulf, the daughter and heiress of Henry Stidulf of Badsell, the son of Thomas Stidulf and his wife Marion Badsell, heiress of Badsell, which latter couple's inscribed monumental brass survives in the chancel of Tudeley Church. George Fane married secondly Elizabeth Hendley, a daughter of Sir Walter Hendley of Corsehorne, Cranbrooke.

Early origins

According to tradition, and to the Heraldic Visitation of Kent 1574, the Fane/Vane family was descended from Captain Sir John Fane, a Welsh gentleman who captured King John II of France at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and received a share of the huge ransom money, which took the French people eight years to raise. His descendants, the families of Fane and Vane, use for their heraldic crests a golden gauntlet which was awarded him at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, and also three golden gauntlets in their coat of arms.
However, according to GEC Complete Peerage relying on their source Fane,
the earliest proven recorded ancestor of the Fane family of Kent is "Henry a Vane" of Tonbridge, Kent, thrice-great-grandfather of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland. GEC also states that "the long line of Welsh descent, as given in the Heraldic Visitation of Kent 1574, is spurious" and their source states it to be "rendered so doubtful by negative evidence as to be no longer capable of support". However Keith W. Murray, published in the same source as Fane vindicates the Welsh pedigree and severely criticises the methodology of Fane, followed by GEC.

Career

After an education at Maidstone Grammar School Fane, who was a committed Protestant, was convicted of treason in 1554 for his involvement in Wyatt's rebellion and was sentenced to death. After four months of imprisonment in the Tower of London he was pardoned by Queen Mary on account of his youth and on the condition that he took the Oath of Loyalty. Fane went on to serve as High Sheriff of Kent in 1572 and in 1573 was knighted for services to the crown.
A monument to Fane survives in St Lawrence's Church, Mereworth, Kent.

Marriages and children

He married twice: