John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland

Westmorland worked between 1784 and 1859 across diplomat, composer, military officer, politician and military personnel and 1 further recorded occupations. The registers place that work in opera. This article rests on 27 scholarly references drawn from named institutional registers. Every statement below returns to a source shown in the evidence panel; where the record is silent or divided, the article says so instead of resolving it.

John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland studied at Trinity College, Cheam School and Harrow School. The recorded working language is English. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are opera. Places of work recorded in the authority are London. Employment is recorded with Foreign Office. Positions recorded include member of the 4th Parliament of the United Kingdom and ambassador of the United Kingdom to Austria. Distinctions recorded are Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath and Knight of the Order of Maria Theresa.

• Honorific Prefix — General The Right Honourable • Name — The Earl of Westmorland • Constituency Mp — Lyme Regis • Parliament — British • Alongside — Henry Fane • Term Start — 1806 • Term End — 1816 • Predecessor — * Hon. Thomas Fane • Henry Fane • Successor — * Henry Fane • John Thomas Fane • Office2 — Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Tuscany • Term Start2 — 1814 • Term End2 — 1830 • Predecessor2 — Hon. William Wyndham • Successor2 — Sir George Seymour (as Resident) • Office3 — Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Prussia • Term Start3 — 1841 • Term End3 — 1851 • Predecessor3 — Lord George Russell • Successor3 — The Lord Bloomfield • Office4 — British Ambassador to the Austria Empire • Term Start4 — 1851 • Term End4 — 1855 • Predecessor4 — The Viscount Ponsonby • Successor4 — Sir George Hamilton Seymour • Born — 2 February 1784 • Birthplace — Piccadilly, London, England • Died — 16 October 1859 • Spouse — Priscilla Anne Pole-Wellesley • Children — * 6, including: • Lady Rose Weigall • Francis Fane, 12th Earl of Westmorland • Hon. Julian Fane • Father — John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland • Mother — Sarah Child

Styled Lord Burghersh from birth, he was born at Sackville Street, Piccadilly, London, the son of John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland, by his wife Sarah Child, daughter and heiress of the wealthy banker Sir Robert Child, builder of Osterley Park. His sister was the social hostess Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey, and his uncle was William Lowther, 1st Earl of Lonsdale, a Tory magnate from northern England. He was educated at Cheam School and then at Harrow from 1797 to 1799. Burghersh was admitted to Trinity College, Cambridge on 28 January 1802 and received an M.A. in 1808. He succeeded his father in the earldom in 1841.

On 9 May 1803, Burghersh was appointed a deputy lieutenant of Northamptonshire, and after the breakdown of the Peace of Amiens, he was commissioned a lieutenant in the Northampton Militia on 30 June 1803. He entered the regular army as an ensign in the 11th Foot, without purchase, on 24 December 1803. On 5 January 1804 he transferred to the 7th Foot as a lieutenant and on 3 May 1805 he transferred to the 23rd Foot as a captain. He exchanged on 1 November to the 3rd Dragoon Guards, and served as aide-de-camp to Sir George Don when the latter led reinforcements to Hanover. As early as 1802, his uncle Lord Lonsdale had contemplated putting Burghersh into Parliament for Londsdale's pocket borough of Cockermouth when Burghersh came of age; in fact, his uncle Thomas stepped down and Burghersh was returned for the Fane constituency of Lyme Regis at the ensuing by-election on 16 March 1806. Three days later he joined Brooks's Club, traditionally a resort of Whigs and particularly Foxite, but on 30 April 1806 voted with the Pitt administration (in which his father was Lord Privy Seal) against the repeal of the Additional Forces Acts 1803. Shortly thereafter, he was sent abroad, serving as assistant adjutant general to the forces in Sicily and Egypt from 1806 to 1807. • Illustration — The Passage of Admiral Duckworth's Fleet in 1806-07 through the Dardanelles, painted by the Fleet's surgeon F.B. Spilsbury, kept by Fane as a souvenir. He was with Admiral Duckworth's fleet during the Dardanelles Operation and then took part in the Alexandria expedition of 1807. Burghersh was a supporter of the second Portland Ministry, in which his father was again Lord Privy Seal, but without particular activity in Parliament, appearing once in the debate on the price of wheat on 3 June 1808. He joined the army in Portugal led by Sir Arthur Wellesley in that year, and fought at Roliça and Vimiero in August. On 6 May 1809, he was gazetted major in the 2nd West India Regiment in place of Thomas McMahon, sent to Lord Beresford's staff in Portugal, and lieutenant colonel on 9 May when he was himself sent to Portugal, This exceedingly rapid promotion, over the heads of many senior officers, drew the attention of William Shipley, member for Flint and recently retired as a lieutenant colonel. He moved that Burghersh's promotion was in violation of Army regulations, and the resolution was carried by the House of Commons. Lord Westmorland was compelled to ask the King not to sign Burghersh's commissions, and they were accordingly cancelled. In July, Burghersh was actively engaged at the Battle of Talavera. He soon after replied to a letter of his father's on his abortive promotion in May, telling him that "the military is a profession which I most sincerely love," but expressing his frustration at not occupying a situation more equal to his education and qualities. He served with the 3rd Dragoon Guards in their campaign in Portugal in 1810. On 16 February 1811, he purchased a majority in the 83rd Foot, then transferred to the half-pay of the 91st Foot on 21 March. On 10 December 1811 he exchanged back into the 7th Foot and later the same year purchased a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 63rd Foot. On 4 June 1814, he was appointed an extra aide-de-camp to the Prince Regent and promoted to colonel in the Army. He was an extra aide-de-camp to the Duke of Wellington (his wife's uncle) and fought at Talavera and Busaco during the Peninsular War. On 4 June 1815, Burghersh was appointed a CB. He was promoted major general on 27 May 1825. Made a KCB on 25 February 1838, he was promoted lieutenant general on 28 June 1838 and general in 1854 and was appointed Colonel of the 56th Foot in 1842.

Lord Westmorland sat as a Member of Parliament (MP) for Lyme Regis between 1806 and 1816. He served as Minister to Tuscany between 1814 and 1830, as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary to Prussia between 1841 and 1851 and as Ambassador to the Austrian Empire between 1851 and 1855. In Vienna, he was one of the British representatives at the congress of 1855. During the Revolutions of 1820 he was accused by the Austrian Government of actively supporting the Revolution in Naples, and was urged by his own Government to show more discretion. Westmorland defended his conduct by arguing that while he was "no Jacobin" and had no sympathy with the revolutionaries, he was concerned that the Austrians would put down the revolution with such brutality that further political disturbance was inevitable. He was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath in 1815, a Knight Grand Cross of the Royal Guelphic Order (KCH) in 1817, a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in 1838 and a Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath (GCB) in 1846 and was sworn of the Privy Council in 1822.

Lord Westmorland was also a composer and a founder of the Royal Academy of Music. He was reportedly a music lover who devoted most of his leisure hours to the study of music, was a violinist and a prolific composer. During his time in Berlin, he got to know Felix Mendelssohn, Giacomo Meyerbeer and Gaspare Spontini. He also had a close friendship with the star violinist Niccolò Paganini. They had met in Florence in 1818 when Fane served as British Ambassador to Florence. He helped promote Paganini’s career among the British aristocracy. He encouraged Paganini to perform in Britain and used his diplomatic and social influence to facilitate the violinist’s highly successful and much anticipated London debut in 1831. Fane remained one of Paganini’s most prominent English patrons, and his association played a significant role in introducing Paganini’s virtuosity to British audiences. Among his compositions are six operas that were composed and privately performed during his duty as Envoy Extraordinary and Minister Plenipotentiary in Florence: • Bajazet (1821) • Fedra (1824) • L'Eroe di Lancastro (1827) • Il Torneo (1828) • Lo Scompiglio Teatrale (1829) • L'assedio di Belgrado (1830). This opera was also performed in London under the title Catherine or the Austrian Captive.

Lord Westmorland married Priscilla Anne Pole-Wellesley, daughter of the Honourable William Wellesley-Pole, later first Baron Maryborough and third Earl of Mornington and Katherine Elizabeth Forbes, on 26 June 1811. They had seven children: • Lady Rose Sophia Mary Fane who married Henry Weigall and whose sons included the cricketer Gerry Weigall and the diplomat Archibald Weigall • Hon. John Arthur Fane (12 February 181629 August 1816) • George Augustus Frederick John Fane, Lord Burghersh (18 June 181929 April 1848) • Maria Louisa Priscilla Fane (24 May 1822 - 25 March 1837) • Ernest Fitzroy Neville Fane, Lord Burghersh (7 January 182422 June 1851) • Francis Fane, 12th Earl of Westmorland (1825–1891) • Hon. Julian Henry Charles Fane (10 October 182719 April 1870) He died in October 1859, aged 75, and was succeeded in the earldom by his fourth but eldest surviving son, Francis. Lord Westmorland's fifth and youngest son Julian Fane was a poet and diplomat. The Countess of Westmorland died in February 1879.

John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland was born on 2 February 1784 in London. Westmorland held the nationality of United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland and Kingdom of Great Britain. Westmorland was educated at Trinity College, Cheam School and Harrow School. Married to: Priscilla Fane, Countess of Westmorland. Recorded father: John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland. Recorded mother: Sarah Fane, Countess of Westmorland. Recorded child: Julian Fane, Francis Fane, 12th Earl of Westmorland, Rose Weigall, John Arthur Fane, George Fane, Lord Burghersh and Ernest Fane, Lord Burghersh. Recorded sibling: Sarah Villiers, Countess of Jersey and Lady Augusta Fane.

Westmorland worked as diplomat, composer, military officer and politician, and the authority record catalogues a further 2 occupations under the same name, among them military personnel and soldier. Westmorland worked in London. Westmorland held the posts of member of the 4th Parliament of the United Kingdom, ambassador of the United Kingdom to Austria (1851–1855), ambassador of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland to Prussia (1841–1851), ambassador of Tuscany to the Great Britain (1814–1831), member of the 3rd Parliament of the United Kingdom, member of the 5th Parliament of the United Kingdom and member of the 2nd Parliament of the United Kingdom. Westmorland was employed by Foreign Office. The fields Westmorland worked in include opera. Westmorland worked in English.

Westmorland died on 16 October 1859 in London. Westmorland is buried at Apethorpe.