Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Fane, Mildmay
FANE, MILDMAY, second Earl of Westmorland(d. 1666), eldest son of Francis Fane, first earl [see under Fane, Sir Thomas], by Mary, heir of Sir Anthony Mildmay of Apthorpe, Northamptonshire, was educated at Emmanuel College, Cambridge. He represented Peterborough in 1620–1, Kent in 1625, and Peterborough again in 1626–8, was created a knight of the Bath at the coronation of Charles I (1 Feb. 1625–6), sided with the king on the outbreak of the civil war, and was arrested as a delinquent and lodged in the Tower in 1642. He was released on 1 April 1643 on giving his parole to keep his house in Bartholomew Close, and in the following August was permitted horse exercise within five miles of London. He had been fined 2,000l., and his estates had been sequestered. The sequestration, however, was discharged on his taking the covenant (14 Feb. 1643–4), and at the same time he was set at liberty. In 1648 he printed for private circulation a volume of verse entitled ‘Otia Sacra,’ and another volume by him entitled ‘Fugitive Poetry,’ consisting chiefly of epigrams, acrostics, and anagrams in English and Latin, suggested by the events of the interregnum, is among the manuscripts preserved at Apthorpe. In 1652 he headed a petition presented by the Northamptonshire landowners to the council of trade urging that steps should be taken to counteract the efforts of the cloth workers to monopolise the wool trade. His submission to the parliament was overlooked at the Restoration, and he was appointed, jointly with the Earl of Bridgewater, lord-lieutenant of Northamptonshire on 11 July 1660. In 1662 a warrant was issued for the payment to him of 50l. out of the secret service money. He died on 12 Feb. 1665–6. He married twice. His first wife was Grace, daughter of Sir William Thornhurst of Herne, Kent, by whom he had one son, Charles, who succeeded him, and five daughters. She died on 9 April 1640. Shortly afterwards Fane married Mary, second daughter of Horace, lord Vere of Tilbury, widow of Sir Roger Townshend of Raynham, Norfolk, by whom he had a son, Vere Fane, who succeeded his brother Charles as fourth earl, another son Horace, and four daughters.
[Collins's Peerage (Brydges), iii. 295–6; Hist. MSS. Comm. 4th Rep. App. 419; Rep. on Gawdy MSS. 168; Rep. on Westmorland MSS. App. 44; Cal. State Papers, Dom. 1640 p. 18, 1641–3 p. 344, 1651–2 p. 471, 1655 p. 269, 1661–2 p. 431; Whitelocke's Mem. pp. 82, 143; Nicolas's Hist. of Knighthood, iii. xvi; Lords' Journ. v. 443, 686, vi. 185, 253 b, 272, 356 a, 425 b, 427 a, 701 b, 703 a.]
Dictionary of National Biography, Errata (1904), p.120
N.B.— f.e. stands for from end and l.l. for last line
| Page | Col. | Line | |
| 178 | ii | 22 | Fane, Mildmay, 2nd Earl of Westmorland: for (d. 1665) read (d. 1666) |
| 28 | after 1620-1 insert for Kent in 1625, and again for Peterborough 1626-8 | ||
| l.l. | for 1665 read 1665-6 | ||
| 179 | i | 9 | after fourth earl insert and another son, Horace |