Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/180

 (p. 17). 3. ‘The Sacrifice. A Tragedy’ (in five acts, and in verse), 4to, London, 1686; 3rd edition, 1687. It was never acted; the author, as he informs the Earl of Dorset in the dedication, ‘having long since devoted himself to a country life, and wanting patience to attend the leisure of the stage.’ Fane's plays are not wholly destitute of merit.

[Collins's Peerage (Brydges), iii. 300, 301–2; Baker's Biog. Dram. (Reed and Jones), i. 223–4, ii. 388–9, iii. 28, 236.]  FANE, HENRY (1778–1840), general, was the eldest son of the Hon. Henry Fane, M.P. for Lyme Regis in Dorsetshire from 1772 to 1802, ‘keeper of the king's private roads, gates, and bridges, and conductor or guide of the king's person in all royal progresses,’ who was the second son of Thomas, eighth earl of Westmorland. He was born on 26 Nov. 1778, and entered the army as a cornet in the 6th dragoon guards, or carabineers, on 31 May 1792. He was promoted lieutenant into the 55th regiment on 29 Sept. 1792, and captain on 3 April 1793, and he exchanged with that rank into the 4th dragoon guards on 31 Aug. 1793. He served as aide-de-camp to his uncle, the tenth Earl of Westmorland, when viceroy of Ireland, in 1793 and 1794. When Westmorland retired, Fane returned to his regiment, and was promoted major on 24 Aug. 1795, and lieutenant-colonel on 1 Jan. 1797. In the year 1802 he duly succeeded his father as M.P. for Lyme Regis, then a close borough in the possession of the Westmorland family. He received the lieutenant-colonelcy of the 1st or king's dragoon guards on 25 Dec. 1804, and on 1 Jan. 1805 was appointed aide-de-camp to the king with the rank of colonel. Though Fane had up to this time seen no active service, he was nevertheless directed to join the staff of Major-general Sir Arthur Wellesley at Cork in June 1808, with the rank of brigadier-general. When the expedition landed at the mouth of the Mondego, Fane, as the youngest and most active of the English generals, received the command of the light brigade, consisting of the 50th regiment and the light companies of all the other regiments attached to the expedition. He led the advance, and at the battle of Roliça he first maintained the connection of the centre with General Ferguson, and then successfully turned General Laborde's right with his light troops by advancing along a mountain road in conjunction with Ferguson's brigade. This operation determined the French to retreat. At the battle of Vimeiro his brigade, with that of Anstruther, held the village church and churchyard against the first three furious onslaughts of Junot's troops. After the convention of Cintra he was transferred by Sir John Moore to the command of the 2nd infantry brigade in Mackenzie Fraser's division, consisting of the 38th, 82nd, and 79th regiments, and with this brigade he served in Sir John Moore's advance into Spain, in his famous retreat, and in the battle of Corunna. On Fane's return to England he received the thanks of parliament in his place in the House of Commons, where he still sat for Lyme Regis, and he eagerly pressed to be again actively employed. In the spring of 1809 he was again ordered to the Peninsula, with the rank of brigadier-general. He was placed, as an old cavalry officer, in command of one of Sir Arthur Wellesley's three cavalry brigades, consisting of the 3rd dragoon guards and the 4th dragoons. This brigade, as it consisted of heavy cavalry, took no such distinguished part in the battle of Talavera as Anson's light brigade, but it did good service throughout the campaigns of 1809 and 1810. On 25 July 1810 Fane was promoted major-general, and as the second cavalry general in order of seniority he was in 1811 detached from the main army to command the cavalry with Hill's corps in the Alemtejo, which consisted of the 13th light dragoons and four regiments of Portuguese dragoons. With this command he covered Hill's operations, and accompanied his corps to the main army, which it reached in time to be present at the battle of Busaco, where, however, none of the cavalry were engaged. In the subsequent retreat to the lines of Torres Vedras the services of the cavalry under Sir Stapleton Cotton and Henry Fane were most valuable, but the fatigues of this trying campaign were too much for Fane's health, and he was invalided home. He thus missed the important battles of 1812, but in 1813, to the satisfaction of both Lord Wellington and Sir Rowland Hill, Fane rejoined the army in the Peninsula. He was again appointed to the command of all the cavalry attached to Hill's corps, namely, a brigade of British cavalry, consisting of the 3rd dragoon guards, the royals, and the 13th light dragoons, one regiment of Portuguese dragoons, and Bean's troop of royal horse artillery. With this command he headed the advance of the right of the British army from their winter quarters at Frenada, defeated the French general Villatte in a smart cavalry engagement on 26 May, which secured the safe passage of the fords of the Tormes, and was present at the battle of Vittoria. During the winter campaign of 1813–14 the cavalry was hardly employed at all, but when Wellington determined to 