Burghersh, Lord John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland
Burghersh, Lord John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland
Burghersh, Lord John Fane, 11th Earl of Westmorland, English politician, general, diplomat, and amateur musician; b. London, Feb. 3, 1784; d. Wansford, Northamptonshire, Oct. 16, 1859. He was educated at Harrow and at Trinity Coll., Cambridge (M.A., 1808), where he received training in music from Hague. He was active in several military campaigns during the Napoleonic wars, and served as aide-decamp to the Duke of Wellington, his wife’s uncle; he also was a member of Parliament for Lyme Regis (1806–16). In 1822 he was made privy councillor, in 1825 a major general, in 1838 a lieutenant general, and in 1854 a general; he was also the British envoy in Florence (1814–30), resident minister in Berlin (1841–51), and ambassador in Vienna (1851–55). Through his persistent efforts, the Royal Academy of Music was organized in London in 1822, and he ruled the institution with an iron hand for the rest of his life. His compositions were disdained in his day and are now mercifully forgotten.
—Nicolas Slonimsky/Laura Kuhn/Dennis McIntire