VANE, SIR HENRY (1589-1654), English secretary of state, born at Hadlow, Kent, on Feb. 18, 1589, was educated at Brasenose College, Oxford, entered Gray's Inn in 1606, and was knighted in 1611. He purchased various court offices, and sat in parliament for various constituencies from 1614 onwards. Vane was sent on many foreign missions, and in 1630 became one of the king's chief advisers. He was made a commissioner of the Admiralty in 1632 and for the colonies in 1636. He was one of the eight privy councillors appointed to manage affairs in Scot land on the outbreak of the troubles there, and on Feb. 3, 1640, through the influence of the queen and of the marquis of Hamii ton and in opposition to the wishes of Strafford, he was made secretary of state in the room of Sir John Coke.
In the Short Parliament, which assembled in April, it fell to Vane to demand supplies. He proposed that the king should give up ship-money and receive in return twelve subsidies. Parliament proved intractable and was dissolved on May 5 to prevent a vote against the continuance of the war with the Scots. In the im peachment of Strafford, Vane asserted that Strafford had advised the king at a meeting of the privy council to employ the Irish army against England. He was on bad terms with Strafford, who
had opposed his appointment to office. Vane was accused of collu sion and treachery, and there is no doubt that he desired Strafford's removal, believing that his sacrifice would satisfy the demands of the parliament. Nevertheless, the charge that he deliberately com passed his destruction is not proved. Suspicions of his fidelity, however, increased, and after accompanying the king to Scotland in August 1641, he was dismissed from all his appointments on Nov. 4, on Charles's return.
Vane immediately joined the parliament ; he was placed on the committee for Irish affairs on Dec. 13, was made lord lieutenant of Durham on Feb. io, 1642, became a member of the committee of both kingdoms on Feb. 7, 1644, and in this capacity attended the Scots army in 1645, while the parliament in the treaty of Uxbridge demanded for him from Charles a barony and the repayment of his losses. He adhered to the parliament after the king's death, and in the first parliament of the Protectorate he was returned for Kent, but the House had refused to appoint him a member of the council of state in February 165o. He died in