Thomas Fane (died 1589)

He is not to be confused with his younger brother, Thomas Fane (died 1607), of Burston, Hunton, Kent, a Member of Parliament for Dover.

Not to be confused with his younger brother also named Thomas Fane, he was born about 1538 at Badsell, the elder son of George Fane (died 1572) of Badsell, Sheriff of Kent in 1557 and 1558 (whose monument survives in Tudeley Church), by his first wife Joan Waller (d. 1545), daughter of William Waller of Groombridge, Sheriff of Kent in 1530.

[3] According to tradition, and to the Heraldic Visitation of Kent in 1574, the Fane/Vane family was descended from Captain Sir John Fane (or Ivon Vane as he was also known), a Welsh gentleman who captured King John II of France at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356 and received a share of the huge ransom money, which took the French people eight years to raise.

After an education at Maidstone Grammar School Fane, who was a committed Protestant, was convicted of treason in 1554 for his involvement in Wyatt's rebellion and was sentenced to death.

After four months of imprisonment in the Tower of London, he was pardoned by Queen Mary on account of his youth and on the condition that he took the Oath of Loyalty.