Regency Personalities Series-Sarah Fane Countess of Westmorland
Regency Personalities Series
In my attempts to provide us with the details of the Regency, today I continue with one of the many period notables.
Sarah Fane Countess of Westmorland
28 August 1764 – 9 November 1793
Sarah Anne Child
Sarah Fane Countess of Westmorland was the only child of Robert Child, the owner of Osterley Park and principal shareholder in the banking firm Child & Co. She married John Fane, 10th Earl of Westmorland on 20 May 1782 at Gretna Green after they eloped together. Her parents were dissatisfied with the match, her father wanted her to marry a commoner who would take the Child name (Sarah Anne being an only child), but Sarah Anne told her mother, “A bird in the hand is worth two in the bush.” Her father cut her out of his will, leaving his house and fortune to Sarah Anne’s second son or eldest daughter, instead of the Westmorland heir.
Sarah Anne and the earl’s surviving children were:
John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland (1784–1859)
Lady Sarah Sophia Fane (1785–1867), married George Child-Villiers, 5th Earl of Jerseyin 1804 (A Patroness of Amacks).
Lady Augusta Fane (1786–1871), m. 1. John Parker, Lord Boringdon (later 1st Earl of Morley) in 1804, divorced 1809; m. 2 also in 1809 Sir Arthur Paget (1771–1840), son of the 1st Earl of Uxbridge.
Lady Maria Fane (1787–1834), m. 1805 John Ponsonby, Viscount Duncannon, later 4th Earl of Bessborough.
Lady Charlotte Fane (1793–1822)
As only one son survived, most of Child’s fortune eventually went to his eldest granddaughter, Lady Sarah Sophia (The famous Patroness of Almacks).
