-
Attended Oxford University in 1554
-
Served in the English Parliament in late 1550s and early 1560s.
-
By 1563 Lane was serving in Queen Elizabeth I’s court, marking the beginning of a career of service to queen and country.
-
In 1585 the queen recalled Lane from Ireland and he was given command of the colony that Sir Walter Raleigh was organizing to sail to Virginia (Roanoke Island).
-
In April 1585, seven ships with about 600 men under the overall command of Sir Richard Grenville left England.
-
He provided the foreword to Thomas Harriot’s Briefe and True Report of the New Found Land of Virginia (1588)
-
On June 18 1586 a fleet led by Sir Francis Drake left Roanoke carrying the first English colonists back home.
-
His account of the colony appeared in Richard Hakluyt’s Principal Navigations
-
Lane was back in Ireland serving as “muster master general” and “clerk of the check of the garrison” and remained in that country for the rest of his life.
-
a professional soldier, served as governor of the first colony attempted by the English in America.
-
Lane died in Dublin, Ireland and was buried at St. Patrick’s Church on the 28th of that month.