Thomas Fane (c. 1538–1589) of Badsell Manor in the parish of Tudeley in Kent, and of Mereworth Castle, Kent, was Sheriff of Kent. He is not to be confused with his younger brother, Thomas Fane (died 1607), of Burston, Hunton, Kent, a Member of Parliament for Dover.
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Origins
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. George Fane was the son of Richard Fane (or a'Vane) by his wife Agnes Stidulf, the daughter and heiress of Henry Stidulf of Badsell, the son of Thomas Stidulf (d. 1457) and his wife Marion Badsell, heiress of Badsell, which latter couple's inscribed monumental brass survives in the chancel of Tudeley Church. George Fane married secondly Elizabeth Hendley, a daughter of Sir Walter Hendley of Corsehorne, Cranbrooke.
Early origins
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. His descendants, the families of Fane (Earl of Westmorland) and Vane (Marquess of Londonderry), use for their heraldic crests a golden gauntlet which was awarded him at the Battle of Poitiers in 1356, and also three golden gauntlets in their coat of arms.