Collection: John Fane, Lord of Westmorland
John Fane, (born 1784) 11th Lord Westmorland was a British soldier, politician, diplomat, composer and musician. He was educated at Cheam School and then Harrow from 1797 to 1799. On 9 May 1803 he was appointed Deputy Lieutenant of Northamptonshire, and after the breach of the Peace of Amiens was commissioned a Lieutenant in the Northamptonshire Militia. He joined the regular army as an ensign in the 11th Foot on 24 December 1803. In 1806 he was sent abroad, serving as Deputy Adjutant-General to the forces in Sicily and Egypt from 1806 to 1807. He then took part in the Alexandria Expedition of 1807. In 1808 he joined the army in Portugal under Sir Arthur Wellesley and fought at Roliça and Vimiero in August 1808 and at Talavera in 1809. At the end of the Napoleonic Wars, on 4 June 1814, he was appointed honorary adjutant to the Prince Regent, and also to the Duke of Wellington (his wife's uncle). In 1825 he was promoted to major general.
Lord Westmorland combined a military career with a political and diplomatic one. In the years 1806-1816 he was a member of the House of Commons. From 1814 to 1830 he was the British ambassador to the Grand Duchy of Tuscany. He returned to diplomatic service in 1841, becoming the ambassador of the United Kingdom to Prussia for 10 years. From Berlin he went to Vienna, where he also served as ambassador until 1855. He died in 1859.
