Christopher Vane, 1st Baron Barnard

Early life

Christopher Vane was the son of Henry Vane the Younger and Frances Wray, daughter of Sir Christopher Wray. He inherited Raby Castle, Durham, and Fairlawne, Kent, on the beheading of his father at Tower Hill in 1662.

Career

Vane was MP for County Durham from 1675 to 1679, and a Whig sitting for Boroughbridge from January 1689 to November 1690 (removed by petition of Sir Brian Stayplton). He was made a Privy counsellor in July 1688, and in 1698, was created Baron Barnard of Barnard Castle by William III.

During his time at Raby Castle, Christopher hired John Bazire and Peter Smart, father of Christopher Smart. A struggle between his wife and his daughter-in-law Lucy Jolliffe ensued after 1703 and Christopher refused to pay the inheritance annuity to his son, William, after William was to be given the Fairlawne estate. William took a lawsuit over the inheritance to the House of Lords, and during this time Christopher and his wife lived at Raby Castle.

Family

On 9 May 1676, he married Elizabeth Holles, daughter of Gilbert Holles, 3rd Earl of Clare. There was immediate bad feeling between Christopher and Elizabeth, on one side, and her brother and co-heir John Holles, 1st Duke of Newcastle-upon-Tyne.

• Henry Vane (1676–1676), died in infancy.
• Gilbert Vane, 2nd Baron Barnard (1678–1753), married to Mary Randyll (1681–1728), mother of Anne, mistress of Frederick, Prince of Wales.
• William Vane, 1st Viscount Vane (c. 1680–1734), married to Lucy Jolliffe.

Later years

When his son Gilbert married Mary Randyll, Elizabeth started a quarrel with her daughter-in-law, which forced Christopher and Elizabeth to move back to Fairlawne. In 1712, Christopher hired John Proud, the steward of Raby Castle, to engage 200 workmen to strip the castle. Owen Stanley Scott described the way that the castle was stripped: :"of its lead, glass, doors, and furniture, even pulling up the floors, cutting down the timber, and destroying the deer, and 'of a sudden in three days' did damage to the tune of £3000, holding a sale at which the household goods, lead, etc., were sold for what they would fetch" In response, Gilbert sued Christopher for the damages to the castle in the case Vane vs. Lord Barnard 1716.

He died on 28 October 1723, aged 70 at Shipbourne, Kent, and was buried in the parish church. The reason for Christopher Smart's legacy has been seen by some as a sign that the future poet was "the pride of Fairlawne"; others disagree without an offered explanation. In response to this loss, Henry Vane, 1st Earl of Darlington, Christopher's grandson through Gilbert, took the young Christopher Smart in at Raby Castle and paid for his education at Durham School.

Notes

References

• Forster, John, Esq. of the Inner Temple., Eminent British Statesmen, Vol 4, Sir Henry Vane the Younger, London: Printed by A. Sro'rrrswonue, 1838.
• King, Henry Melville. Sir Henry Vane Jr.: Governor of Massachusetts and Friend of Roger Williams and Rhode Island, Providence, Rhode Island: Preston and Rounds Company, 1909.
• Willcock, John, M. A., D. D. Life of Sir Henry Vane the Younger Statesman & Mystic, London: The Saint Catherine Press, 1913
• Mounsey, Chris. Christopher Smart: Clown of God. London: Bucknell University Press, 2001.
• Scott, Owen Stanley. Raby: its Castle and its Lords. Barnard Castle: Harry Ward, 1915.
• Sherbo, Arthur. Christopher Smart: Scholar of the University. Michigan State University Press, 1967.

References

1. Forster, pp. 201–202.
2. King, pp. 189–190.
3. Willcock, p. 347.
4. Debrett's Peerage, 1968, p. 115, which omits ''appaumée'', useful in differentiating from Fane arms; concerning ''appaumée'' Cussans (1898) states: "In blazoning a Hand, besides stating what position it occupies, and whether it be the dexter or sinister, and erased or couped, it must be mentioned whether it be clenched or appaumé". (Cussans, John, ''Handbook of Heraldry'', 2nd Edition, London, 1868, p. 47 [https://archive.org/stream/handbookofherald00cuss_0/handbookofherald00cuss_0_djvu.txt], p. 92)
5. Mounsey, p. 23.
6. Sherbo, p. 3.
7. Mounsey, p. 24.
8. Christopher accomplished this task by giving Fairlawne and Raby Castle to John Bazire and Peter Smart "for the use of the said Lord Barnard and his heirs forever."Sherbo, p. 4.
9. Mary was described as "scandalous" by Christopher Vane (and it was thought that her daughter, [[Anne Vane]], followed her mother's example.Matthew Kilburn, [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28083 "Vane, Anne (d. 1736)"], Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2008, accessed 19 February 2017.
10. Mounsey, p. 25.
11. Scott, p. 82.
12. Sherbo, p. 6.
13. Christopher Smart never received this money, as it was tied up and lost in a court battle.Mounsey, p. 28.