Biography of Francis Fletcher-Vane 3rd Baronet 1797-1842

On 9th March 1797 [his father] Frederick Vane-Fletcher 2nd Baronet (age 37) and [his mother] Hannah Bowerbank (age 24) were married. Three weeks later their third child was born. The date of their marriage subject to litigation some forty years after the death of Frederick Vane-Fletcher 2nd Baronet when his brother [his brother] Frederick Henry Fletcher-Vane claimed the marriage was did not take place until after the birth of their son Francis who was, therefore, illegitimate and not eligible to inherit the family estates. See The Times.

On 29th March 1797 Francis Fletcher-Vane 3rd Baronet was born to Frederick Vane-Fletcher 2nd Baronet (age 37) and Hannah Bowerbank (age 24).

In 1823 Francis Fletcher-Vane 3rd Baronet (age 25) and Diana Elizabeth Beauclerk (age 16) were married.

On 13th January 1830 [his son] Henry Ralph Fletcher-Vane 4th Baronet was born to Francis Fletcher-Vane 3rd Baronet (age 32) and [his wife] Diana Elizabeth Beauclerk (age 23).

On 26th February 1832 [his father] Frederick Vane-Fletcher 2nd Baronet (age 71) died. His son Francis (age 34) succeeded 3rd Baronet Fletcher of Hutton in Cumberland.

On 15th February 1842 Francis Fletcher-Vane 3rd Baronet (age 44) died. His son [his son] Henry (age 12) succeeded 4th Baronet Fletcher of Hutton in Cumberland.

The Times. 6th November 1872. It was upon the legitimacy of the third of these children that the question turned. The plaintiff [[his brother] Frederick Henry Fletcher-Vane (age 65)] alleged that pending arrangements for his [his father] father's marriage with Miss Bowerbank, she was prematurely confined of a third child, a son, and that the marriage did not in fact take place until nearly three weeks after her confinement – viz., on March 9, 1797. The child thus born, as the plaintiff alleged about three weeks before the marriage on the 9th of March, was baptised by the name of Francis Fletcher-Vane at St. George's, Bloomsbury, on the 19th of April, 1797, and in the entry of his baptism he was stated to have been born on the 29th of March 1797. As to this entry, it was alleged by the plaintiff [Frederick Henry Vane] that the register had been tampered with and that the date of the birth was added some time after the original entry. The bill then stated that Sir Frederick Fletcher-Vane brought up Francis Fletcher-Vane, the child thus born, as his legitimate heir. After the marriage two other children were born – i.e., a daughter, and the plaintiff, who was born on May 10, 1807. Francis Fletcher-Vane married in 1823, and upon the death of his father in 1832 assumed the title and the family estates.

On 9th February 1875 [his former wife] Diana Elizabeth Beauclerk (age 68) died.