Vane, Sir Henry, 1589–1655, English courtier

Vane, Sir Henry, 1589–1655, English courtier; father of the Puritan leader Sir Henry Vane, the younger. He gained the favor of James I, was knighted in 1611, and acquired wealth by the purchase of profitable offices. He served in every Parliament from 1614 to 1640 and was successively made comptroller (1629) and treasurer (1639) of the household and secretary of state (1640). He also served Charles I on diplomatic missions to Holland (1629–30) and to Gustavus Adolphus (1631). Vane's appointment as secretary of state was opposed by the earl of Strafford Strafford, Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of, 1593–1641, English statesman. Regularly elected to Parliament from 1614 on, he became one of the critics of George Villiers, 1st duke of Buckingham, and of the
..... Click the link for more information. . In the latter's trial, Vane, with genuine or pretended reluctance, testified that Strafford had advocated the use of the Irish army against Parliament. As a result he lost favor with the king and was dismissed from office. Joining the parliamentary opposition, he served as lord lieutenant of Durham (1642) and as a member of the committee for both kingdoms. He never became important in the new government.

Vane, Sir Henry, 1613–62, English statesman

Vane, Sir Henry, 1613–62, English statesman; son of Sir Henry Vane (1589–1655). Early converted to Puritanism, he went to New England in 1635 and became governor of Massachusetts in 1636. His religious tenets and his support of Anne Hutchinson Hutchinson, Anne, c.1591–1643, religious leader in New England, b. Anne Marbury in Lincolnshire, England. She emigrated (1634) with her husband and family to Massachusetts Bay, where her brilliant mind and her kindness won admiration and a following.
..... Click the link for more information. embroiled him in political quarrels, especially with John Winthrop Winthrop, John, 1588–1649, governor of the Massachusetts Bay colony, b. Edwardstone, near Groton, Suffolk, England. Of a landowning family, he studied at Trinity College, Cambridge, came into a family fortune, and became a government administrator with strong
..... Click the link for more information. (1588–1649), and he returned to England in 1637. His governorship was notable chiefly for the founding of Harvard College and the start of the Pequot War. He was made (1639) joint treasurer of the navy, sat in the Short Parliament (1640), and was knighted (1640). Vane allowed a paper of his father's to be copied by John Pym Pym, John (pĭm), 1583?–1643, English statesman.
..... Click the link for more information. , who later used it in the prosecution of the earl of Strafford, and in the Long Parliament he was a leading advocate of the abolition of episcopacy. As a result Charles I dismissed him (1641) from his treasurership of the navy, but Parliament reappointed him as sole treasurer in 1642. During the English civil war, Vane was a consistent moderate and proved himself a very able administrator. Although he was largely responsible for securing (1643) the Solemn League and Covenant with Scotland, he opposed an established Presbyterian church. An advocate of religious toleration and a constitutional monarchy, he was one of the committee that negotiated vainly (1648) with Charles I, and he refused to take part in the king's execution (1649). Nonetheless, he became (1649) a member of the council of state of the Commonwealth and remained very influential until he clashed with Oliver Cromwell over the latter's dissolution (1653) of the Rump Parliament. In 1656 he was imprisoned briefly for writing the pamphlet A Healing Question, in which he attacked arbitrary government. Vane sat in Parliament under Richard Cromwell but, at the fall of Richard's government, argued for the restoration of the Long Parliament. Suspected, probably without reason, of conspiring with Gen. John Lambert to establish a dictatorship, he became generally unpopular. In 1662 he was convicted of treason by the Restoration government and executed. His numerous writings on religion and government include The Retired Man's Meditations (1655) and the pamphlets on The Trial of Sir Henry Vane, Kt. (1662).

Bibliography

See biography by J. H. Adamson and H. F. Folland (1973).

Vane, Sir Henry

known as Sir Henry Vane the Younger

(born 1613—died June 14, 1662, London, Eng.) English politician. Son of the royal adviser Henry Vane the Elder (1589–1655), he was converted to Puritanism and in 1635 sailed to New England, where he served as governor of Massachusetts (1636–37). After returning to England, he became treasurer of the navy (1639), then served with his father in the Long Parliament, where they helped secure the impeachment of Thomas Wentworth, 1st earl of Strafford. The chief English negotiator of the Solemn League and Covenant, Vane became leader of the House of Commons (from 1643) and a member of the Commonwealth's Council of State (1649–53). After the Restoration, he was arrested, imprisoned (1660–62), and executed for treason.