Francis Fane KC (c.1698 – 28 May 1757) of Brympton, nr. Yeovil, Somerset, and later Wormsley, Oxfordshire was a commissioner for trade and the Plantations, and a British Member of Parliament.[1]
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Francis Fane was educated at King's College, Cambridge, he graduated in 1715, attended the Middle Temple, and was called to the bar in 1721.[2] As the eldest son he succeed to the estate of his father, Henry Fane, in 1726. The next year he became a King's Counsellor and a Middle Temple bencher.[1]
Fane was appointed standing council to the Board of Trade and Plantations in 1725, a position he held until 1746.[1] He sat in several parliaments for more than one constituency. He represented Taunton in Somersetshire in his first parliament, that which first sat for on business, 27 January 1728 (N.S.).[3][4] He also represented the same seat in the parliament summoned to meet, 13 June 1734; and in that summoned to meet, 25 June 1741, for Petersfield;[5] Between 13 May 1729 and her death in 1737 he was also Solicitor-General to Queen Caroline, and between 1739 and 1751 he was chairman of the ways and means committee.[1]
On 1746 being constituted one of the commissioners for the Board of Trade and the Plantations, he was re-elected on a new writ to Parliament.[6] In the parliament, which sat first on business, 12 November 1747, he was chosen for Ilchester.[6] He inherited some estates from his maternal uncle John Scrope in 1752. He resigned his place as a commissioner of Trade and the Plantations, in April 1756.[6]
He died member for Lyme Regis, 28 May 1757, aged fifty-nine, was buried at Lewknor in Oxfordshire.[6]
Francis Fane, was the eldest son of Henry Fane a great-grandson of Francis Fane, 1st Earl of Westmorland. His younger brother Thomas inherited Earldom of Westmorland on the death of the 7th earl in 1762.[6]
| Parliament of Great Britain | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by James Smith Abraham Elton |
Member of Parliament for Taunton 1727–17 With: George Speke 1727–1734 Henry William Berkeley Portman 1734–1741 |
Succeeded by Sir John Chapman John Buck |
| Preceded by Sir William Jolliffe Edward Gibbon |
Member of Parliament for Petersfield 1741–1747 With: John Jolliffe |
Succeeded by John Jolliffe William Conolly |
| Preceded by Charles Lockyer Sir Robert Brown |
Member of Parliament for Ilchester 1747–1754 With: Thomas Lockyer |
Succeeded by Thomas Lockyer Hon. John Talbot |
| Preceded by Robert Henley Thomas Fane |
Member of Parliament for Lyme Regis 1754–1757 With: Thomas Fane |
Succeeded by Thomas Fane Henry Fane |