Vane family, Barons Barnard

The Vane or Fane family, a younger branch of the Fane Earls of Westmorland, was settled at Hadlow (Kent) in the 15th century. Sir Henry Vane senior (1589-1654) sold Hadlow but purchased the Fairlawn (Kent) estate and extensive properties in County Durham, including Raby Castle, in the early 17th century. An estate at Long Newton (County Durham) was settled on a younger son, Sir George Vane (see Vane-Tempest-Stewart, Marquesses of Londonderry), but the other Kent and County Durham estates descended to Sir Henry Vane junior (1613-62), the republican politician, and eventually to his son Christopher Vane (d. 1723), who married in 1676 Elizabeth, sister and co-heir of John Holles, Duke of Newcastle (see Pelham-Clinton, later Pelham-Clinton-Hope, Dukes of Newcastle) and was created Baron Barnard in 1698.

In the next generation Raby Castle passed to the 2nd Baron (1678-1753), who married Mary Randyll of Chilworth (Surrey), but Fairlawn passed to a younger brother, William (c1680-1734), who also inherited some property in County Durham and a reversionary interest in the Newcastle estates. William Vane married in 1703 Lucy, daughter and co-heir of William Jolliffe of Caverswall (Staffordshire), and was created Viscount Vane in 1720. The 2nd Viscount sold Caverswall (retaining, however, a life interest) and disposed of his reversionary interest in the Newcastle estates (to the 2nd Duke of Newcastle). After his death in 1798 Fairlawn was also sold, but some County Durham property reverted to the senior line.

The 3rd Baron Barnard (c1705-1758) married in 1725 Grace, daughter of Charles Fitzroy, Duke of Cleveland, by his second wife Anne Pulteney, aunt of William Pulteney, Earl of Bath, and was created Earl of Darlington in 1754. The 2nd Earl (1726-92) married in 1757 Margaret, sister and eventually co-heir of James Lowther, Earl of Lonsdale (see Lowther, Earls of Lonsdale), through whom property in Barbados was inherited, and was residuary legatee of the 2nd Duke of Cleveland (d. 1774).

The 3rd Earl of Darlington (1766-1842) inherited in 1805 extensive estates in Shropshire (High Ercall, Wroxeter, etc), Staffordshire (Wolverhampton), Northamptonshire (Brigstock and Sudborough), Cheshire (Minshull Vernon) and Montgomeryshire (Deythur or Deuddwr). These estates had all or mostly been acquired by the Earl of Bath from the Newport family, Earls of Bradford (see Bridgeman, Earls of Bradford), and had descended to Frances Pulteney and her husband Sir William Johnstone, afterwards Pulteney, 5th Bt (d. 1805) (see Hope-Johnstone of Raehills). Following the deaths of their daughter Henrietta Laura (created Countess of Bath in 1803) in 1808 and her husband Sir James Murray-Pulteney, Bt, in 1811, Lord Darlington also inherited property in Somerset (Bathwick and Wrington). The Cheshire and Montgomeryshire estates and some Shropshire properties were sold between 1805 and 1824, and the Somerset properties reduced by sale in the late 19th century, but the bulk of the Shropshire, Staffordshire and Northamptonshire estates were retained into the 20th century.

Lord Darlington was created Duke of Cleveland in 1833. In 1787 he had married Katherine, daughter and co-heir of the 6th Duke of Bolton (see Orde-Powlett, Barons Bolton). Her interest in the Bolton estates in Cornwall, Devon, Dorset and Wiltshire passed to her younger son Lord William Vane, who in January 1864 succeeded as 3rd Duke of Cleveland. As divided under a private Act of 1863 the Vane family received estates in Cornwall (Ludgvan, etc), Devon (Brixham, etc) and Wiltshire (Imber, etc).

Lord Harry Vane (1803-91), younger brother of the 2nd and 3rd Dukes, inherited some land in County Durham from his father. He also acquired the Battle Abbey estates in Sussex (from Sir Augustus Webster, 7th Bt, in 1858) and other properties in Sussex and Kent. In September 1864 he succeeded as 4th Duke of Cleveland, inheriting the Vane and former Pulteney estates in County Durham, Shropshire and other counties, and former Bolton estates in Cornwall, Devon and Wiltshire (except those that passed to the third Duke's widow). On the 4th Duke's death without issue in 1891 the dukedom of Cleveland was extinguished, but the barony of Barnard, together with the bulk of the Vane and Pulteney estates, passed to a distant cousin, Henry de Vere Vane (1854-1918), son of Sir Henry Morgan Vane (1808-86) by Lousia, daughter and co-heir of the Rev. Richard Farrer of Ashley (Northamptonshire). The former Bolton estates, however, together with the Sussex and Kent properties, passed to the widow of the 4th Duke. (The Battle Abbey estate was repurchased by the Webster family following her death in 1901.) The Ashton Keynes (Wiltshire) estate, purchased in the 1840s, was left in 1891 to the 4th Duke’s great-nephew A.W.H. Hay (later Hay-Drummond).

Estates in 1883: Duke of Cleveland: Co Durham 55,837 acres, Salop 25,604 acres, Sussex 6,025 acres, Somerset 4,784 acres, Northants 3,482 acres, Kent 2,449 acres, Staffs unstated (rental £3,970), Cornwall 1,997 acres, Wilts 1,511 acres, Devon 1,085 acres, Gloucs 11 acres, total 102,785 acres worth £95,755 a year; Dowager Duchess (in 1873): Wilts 886 acres, Cornwall 523 acres, total 1,409 acres worth £1,643 a year, with 2,456 acres in Devon, worth £3,087 a year, held jointly with the Earl of Sandwich; HM Vane (in 1873): Northants 329 acres, Leics 15 acres, total 344 acres worth £817 a year.