Sir Frederick Fletcher-Vane, 2nd Baronet (27 February 1760 – 26 February 1832), was a British politician and landowner. He was MP for the pocket borough of Winchelsea, between 1792 and 1794, the borough of Carlisle, between 1796 and 1802, and again for Winchelsea, between 1806 and 1807. Sir Frederick was the 2nd Baronet of Hutton and a descendant of Sir Henry Vane the Elder. In 1788 he served as High Sheriff of Cumberland.
In the words of his grandson, Sir Frederick Fletcher Vane "was not without the faults and passion of youth".Agin The Governments. Memoirs and adventures of Sir Francis Fletcher Vane Bt. Published London by Sampson, Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1929 He has also been described as a "colourful and difficult character".Guide book to Hutton in the Forest, no date Notwithstanding the last remark, expressed after Sir Frederick's death, his character and personality while alive were interesting enough to see him successfully proposed for membership of Brooks's in 1796 by the Whig politician and wit, Charles James Fox, Brooks's being a club where the Prince of Wales was a member.Memorials of Brooks’s, MDCCLXIV to MCM, From The Foundation Of The Club 1764 To The Close Of The Nineteenth Century, Compiled From The Records Of The Club. Published by Ballantyne & Co. Limited, Tavistock Street, London, W.C., MCMVII, p.50 Sir Frederick joined the Whig Club on 11 April 1797 and, in 1798, Coleridge and Wordsworth made use of Sir Frederick's library at Hutton.William Wordsworth, A Life, by Stephen Gill. Published by Clarendon Press, Oxford, 1989, p.166 Bobus Smith was the inspiration behind the Whig Club and would later be a trustee on the resettlement of the Fletcher-Vane estates ahead of the marriage in 1823 of Sir Frederick's son, Francis, to Diana Beauclerk, the granddaughter of Topham Beauclerk and Lady Diana Beauclerk.Copy of The Will of Sir Frederick Fletcher-Vane, Baronet. Dated 25 July 1832
Sir Frederick changed his surname to Fletcher Vane in 1790. He was the father of Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane, 3rd Baronet, and the grandfather of both Sir Henry Fletcher-Vane, 4th Baronet, and Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane, 5th Baronet.
Early life
Frederick Vane-Fletcher was born at Harrow on the Hill on 27 February 1760 and baptised on 6 March 1760 at St Mary's Church in that parish. He was the son of Sir Lionel Vane-Fletcher, 1st Baronet and Rachel Griffith, the daughter of David Griffith of Llankennen, Carmarthenshire.The Baronetage and Knightage of The British Empire, for 1882, by Joseph Foster. Published Westminster, Chapman and Hall Limited, 11 Henrietta Street, Covent Garden, 1882
There are few public records of Sir Frederick's early years and education; given his position it can be assumed at that time he was educated at home. He was made a lieutenant in the 7th Regiment Dragoons in 1781 and later cornet.London Magazine, Enlarged and Improved, Volume the First for July, August, September, October, November and December, 1783
Sir Frederick took the Grand Tour in 1787 and extant letters outline conditions in France and Paris before the French Revolution, describing the splendours of Château de Chantilly where they stayed but then outline the problem of travelling in a land "infested by crowds of beggars" in places where horses needed to be changed making travel by carriage difficult, the plight of the poor in contrast to a rich aristocracy being the economic cause of the French Revolution.
On Monday 27 August 1787, The Times reported that:Sir George Baker was created a Baronet on 26 August 1776, and was later physician to George III, before and during the Regency.
The following melancholy accident happened last week at Raby Castle, the seat of the Earl of Darlington: – His Lordship's eldest son, Viscount Barnard, invited his relations and friends to celebrate his birthday. Amongst the former were Sir Frederick Vane and his youngest brother [Henry was the youngest], who, during the time of the glass going jovially round, was suddenly seized with a violent fit of coughing, and broke two blood vessels. The Faculty recommended him to Bath waters, for which he immediately set out, but was taken so ill in going through Knightsbridge, on Sunday last, that he was carried to a lodging house, where he now lies in a very dangerous state. He is attended by Dr Warren and Sir George Baker.
Sir Frederick's brother, Henry, died shortly thereafter.
Public life
Sir Frederick was made Sheriff of Cumberland in 1788, and changed his surname from Vane-Fletcher to Fletcher-Vane in 1790. Around this time George Romney was commissioned to take his portrait. At the age of 31, he entered Parliament in the pocket borough of Winchelsea when his kinsman, Viscount Barnard, entered the House of Lords on becoming the 3rd Earl of Darlington in 1792, later first Duke of Cleveland. Winchelsea was considered one of the notorious rotten boroughs of England, abolished by the Reform Act 1832 but at the time under the control of the Earls of Darlington.
In 1793, Sir Frederick was Steward of the Races in Penrith.The Sporting Magazine, Or Monthly Calendar Of The Transactions of the Turf, the Chase, and every other Diversion of Pleasure interesting to the Man of Pleasure, Enterprise and Spirit. For April 1794 An advertisement was printed in The Times on 17 April 1793 for the 58th Anniversary of the Cumberland Society to be held on Saturday the 27th at the Crown and Anchor Tavern on The Strand, London. The Crown and Anchor was also the venue for the Whig Club. The advertisement was made on behalf of Sir Frederick F. Vane, Henry Howard Esq, Major Gale, William Brummell Esq, father of Beau Brummell, Joseph Porter Esq and Moses Wm Staples Esq, with tickets to be had at the Bar, 7s 6d each, and "Dinner on Table at Half past Three o'Clock".The Crown and Anchor was the first meeting place of the Whig Club
In February 1794, Sir Frederick was appointed Steward of East Hendred in Oxfordshire, a technical device to enable Members of Parliament to resign their seat after which he left Parliament.The History of Parliament. British Political, Social and Local History. The History of Parliament Trust 1964-2016 In 1796 Sir Frederick purchased Armathwaite Hall on the shore of Bassenthwaite Lake in the county of Cumberland.Magna Britannia, Being A Concise Topographical Account Of Several Counties of Great Britain by the Rev. Daniel Lysons and Samuel Lysons. Volume the Fourth containing Cumberland. Published London, 1816 It was, perhaps, to improve living conditions for his young family, Hutton being in a parlous state according to contemporaneous accounts. Lord Inglewood, the current incumbent of Hutton in the Forest, stated at a 2014 John Cornforth lecture that Sir Frederick contemplated the sale of Hutton.Transcript of The John Cornforth Lecture by Lord Inglewood on Wednesday 15 January 2014, p.21 It is clear that Sir Frederick and his young family largely based themselves at Armathwaite.Transcript of The John Cornforth Lecture by Lord Inglewood on Wednesday 15 January 2014, p.21
Sir Francis Fletcher Vane, 5th Baronet, describes Armathwaite in his memoirs:Agin the Governments, page 187
There on the lake is Armathwaite Hall, the favourite house of my grandfather, where my father spent his early life, and Scarness also on the lake-a favourite of my people [the 4th Baronet also enjoyed Armathwaite and his widow, Lady Margaret, died at Scarness Cottage].
After his move to Armathwaite, in 1796 Sir Frederick was elected MP for Carlisle, replacing Wilson Gale-Braddyll as the partner of John Christian Curwen in the anti-Lowther interest. The anti-Lowther faction in the North West of England concerned the control of the parliamentary dual member borough of Carlisle that was contested by three old Cumberland families: the Howards, Earls of Carlisle, the Musgraves and the Lowthers.The History of Parliament: Carlisle, Double Member Borough. The History of Parliament Trust, 1964-2016 In the north west of England, the Lowther family also controlled the pocket borough of Cockermouth, like Winchelsea a rotten borough abolished by the Reform Act 1832, together with the double member borough of Westmorland. By 1761, the Howard's control of Carlisle was weakening and Sir James Lowther took the opportunity to take control of the borough. The freemen of the city of Carlisle were upset by this and agreed to fund any candidate prepared to challenge the Lowther's position. On election day, a Lowther candidates, John Stanwix, decided to withdraw from the election and the electorate of Carlisle chose Curwen, an independent, together with a Lowther candidate, Raby Vane.
In 1796, Sir Frederick was elected to Brooks's on the proposal of Charles James Fox and voted with the Whigs on four occasions before the end of Parliament that year. He joined the Whig Club on 11 April 1797, whose future members included Lord Byron. Bobus Smith was the inspiration behind the Whig Club and would later be a trustee on the resettlement of the Fletcher-Vane estates ahead of the marriage of Sir Francis Fletcher-Vane, 3rd Baronet, to Diana Beauclerk. In 1798, Coleridge and Wordsworth made use of Sir Frederick's library at Hutton.
Sir Frederick's anti-Lowther sentiment took a more violent turn in 1798 when he challenged Lord Lonsdale to a duel.The Times, 31 January 1798, p.3 The duel took place in Hyde Park and, without an outcome, again in Bayswater. The quarrel was eventually called off by a magistrate.
Sir Frederick regained the seat of Winchelsea in 1806 but retired in 1807 when the seat was taken by Sir Oswald Mosley. In the General Election of 1818, Sir Frederick failed in his attempt to win the pocket seat of Cockermouth as part of the anti-Lowther movement spearheaded by Henry Brougham. In one of his last political acts, Sir Frederick signed the requisition of a county meeting in Cumberland in October 1819 to consider the Peterloo Massacre having written to Henry Brougham on 30 September:
I made this addition opposite my name, "and also to consider of the necessity of a reform in Parliament". If that question is not brought forward, it might appear that a change of ministers was our only object, but I suppose most of us will be of opinion that no change can be of much use without a reform in the borough system.
Family life
It is not known when Sir Frederick began an affair with Hannah Bowerbank, a "companion" to Sir Frederick's mother at Hutton in the Forest, according to the memoir of Sir Frederick's grandson, later Sir Francis Patrick Fletcher Vane, 5th Baronet. On 22 August 1794, Hannah Bowerbank gave birth to a daughter, also named Hannah. A son was born on 9 July 1795, Walter Vane, and the "intimacy between Sir Frederick and Hannah continued and they lived together at various places in Cumberland and among others at Broughton Hall in the parish of Bridekirk".The Times Wednesday, 15 Nov. 1876; p.10; Issue 28787; col E The children were baptised on 16 July 1795 at St Mary's Parish Church, Marylebone, London.Church of England Baptisms, Marriages and Burials, 1538-1812
Sir Francis describes Hannah Bowerbank as coming from a "good though impoverished family". It is not clear that they were in fact impoverished. The obituary of Hannah Bowerbank's father, John Bowerbank, in the National Register in 1808 describes him as a "most respectable farmer under His Grace the Duke of Norfolk for upwards of 60 years and father of the present Lady Vane of Armathwaite".The National Register, 12 June 1808, p.383 In fact, John Bowerbank also managed the lands of the Hassells of Dalemain and the Fletcher Vane family at Hutton.