William Andreas Salius Fane de Salis (27 October 1812 – 3 August 1896) was a businessman, colonialist, and barrister.
De Salis was the third son of Jerome, 4th Count de Salis-Soglio (d. 1836), by his third wife, Henrietta Foster (d. 1856). Peter John Fane, Count de Salis was an elder half-brother. William Foster Stawell was a first cousin, and the poet Lord De Tabley was a nephew. Colonel Bisse-Challoner was a brother-in-law.
Born in St. Marylebone, Westminster, brought up in County Louth he was educated at Eton (1824–27); Heidelberg University (1828–29); and Oriel College, Oxford (1830–1834, Classics, 4th class). He was called to the Bar, 30 January 1836; and was at 3 Brick Court, Inner Temple, by 1840. He was the revising barrister in Northants (1839) and then Nottingham.
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De Salis visited Australia in 1842, 1844 and 1848 to pursue business opportunities in the Australian wool industry, then rapidly expanding. His younger brother Leopold Fabius Fane de Salis had migrated there in 1840. William became, with John Thacker, a partner in Thacker & Co, Jardine Matheson’s affiliated house in Sydney, but resigned from 1 July 1847. By 1848 he owned with Robert Towns a 345 ton barque, the Statesman. This they sold, March 1854, for $16,500, she having had an accident 'on her passage up to China from Sydney' trading sandalwood, tea pines...
On his return to England De Salis joined the Grand Junction Canal Co in 1850 and held the following appointments:
In the early 1850s he lived between the Jerusalem Coffee House; Dawley Lodge (near Hillingdon); 1, Upper Belgrave street; 24 Wilton street, and 107 Eaton square. From the late 1850s he lived at Dawley Court, near Hillingdon, Middlesex and Teffont Manor, Teffont Evias, Wiltshire, home of his wife Emily Harriet (d 24 July 1896), eldest daughter of John Thomas Mayne, who he had married on 12 March 1859.
He was a Fellow of the Geological Society and of the Royal Geographical Society, JP for Middlesex, (1868), Lord of the Manor and Patron of the Living of Teffont, and JP for Wiltshire. He co-founded the Harlington, Hounslow and Cranford Cottage Hospital in 1884. He left Dawley to his youngest brother's second son, one of whose younger brothers was Charles Fane de Salis.
At his death he left effects valued at £147,382 6s 7d. His nephew Rodolph was executor. His wife had died a mere ten days earlier leaving £1,930.
His Reminiscences of Travel in China and India in 1848 contains lithographs, after his own sketches, of Mount Ophir, Pulo Brassey, Cape Comorin, Cochin harbour, Cannamore, Mangalore, Marmagoa, the Island of Socotra, cantonments of Aden from the Kyber pass, Mocha, Jebel Tear, Jebel Wady, Lahuna, the coast of Nubia, the mountains of Abyssinia, Mount Zapheran, Tagus, Gibraltar and Malta.
| William Fane de Salis | Jerome, Count De Salis |
Peter, Count de Salis |
Jerome, Count de Salis |
Hon. Mary Fane, daughter of 1st Lord Fane. |
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Anna v. Salis-Soglio |
Giovanni v. Salis-Soglio (1707–1790) (casa Battista). |
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Katherina Barbara (1711–1788), daughter of Rudolfo v. Salis-Soglio (1652–1735) (casa di Mezzo). |
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Henrietta Foster (1785–1856). |
Rt. Rev. William Foster, DD (1744–1797). | Lord Chief Baron of the (Irish) Exchequer, Anthony Foster (1705–1779), of Collon, co. Louth. They married in 1736. His nephew, John Foster, was the first husband of Elizabeth, Duchess of Devonshire. |
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Elizabeth (d.1744), daughter of William Burgh, of Bert, co. Kildare. |
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| Catharina-Letitia Leslie (d. 23 November 1814). | Rev. Dr. Henry Leslie (1719–1803), LLD, of Ballibay, co. Monaghan. A scion of the family of the Earl of Rothes. Prebend of Tullycorbet and then of Tandragee (44 years). His father, Rev. Peter Leslie, was rector of Ahoghill, and married Jane, the daughter of Rt. Rev. Dr. (Anthony) Dopping, Bishop of Meath. |
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Catherine, daughter of the Very Rev. Charles Meredyth, of Newtown, co. Meath. Dean of Ardfert, by his wife Letitia Vesey. |