Major-General Walter Fane CB (1828–1885) was a British Indian Army officer who served in Central India on the North West Frontier as well as in China during the Opium Wars. Fane raised a troop of irregular cavalry to fight in China made up of Indian volunteers and they went on to become Fane's Horse, a regiment that remains part of Pakistan's armed forces.
Life
Walter Fane, a member of the Fane family, was born in 1828 in Fulbeck Lincolnshire. He was the son of the Rev. Edward Fane of Fulbeck Hall.[1]
Army career
He entered the army in 1845 and became a lieutenant in 1853. He served in the Punjab Irregular Cavalry on the North West frontier where they fought a number of engagements against the hill tribes.[1]
During the Indian Rebellion Fane fought against Tantya Tope and he was present when the Indian rebel leader was captured and executed.[1]
In 1860 Fane raised the irregular cavalry force of Fane's Horse to fight in China during the Second Opium War. Fane's horse fought in the engagements of Sinho, Chinkiawbaw, Pulli-chi-on as well as in the sacking of Peking under Fane's cousin Field Marshal Sir John Michel. For these services he was nominated as a Companion of the Order of the Bath.[1]
Later life
Fane was also an artist and had limited success throughout his lifetime, and he was the most successful member of a moderately artistic family. He married but had no children and he died aged 58 in Fulbeck, where is buried.[1]
United Kingdom
British Indian Army