author
Earl of John Fane Westmorland
1784–1859
A soldier, diplomat, and passionate musician, this 11th Earl of Westmorland moved easily between battlefields, royal courts, and concert rooms. He is especially remembered for helping found the Royal Academy of Music and for keeping a deep love of composition at the center of a very public life.
1 Audiobook
Memoir of the early campaigns of the Duke of Wellington, in Portugal and Spain, By an officer employed in his army
by Earl of John Fane Westmorland
About the author
Born in London on February 3, 1784, John Fane was known as Lord Burghersh before inheriting the earldom in 1841. He built a remarkably varied career as a British army officer, politician, and diplomat, serving during the Napoleonic era and later holding important posts abroad, including in Florence and Vienna.
Music was not just a private hobby for him. He was known as an able violinist and a prolific composer, and modern reference sources credit him as one of the founders of the Royal Academy of Music in 1823. That mix of public duty and artistic devotion makes him an unusual figure among British aristocrats of the period.
He died on October 16, 1859. Today he is remembered less for a single title than for the unusual breadth of his life: a nobleman who pursued military service and diplomacy seriously, while also leaving a real mark on musical life in Britain.