[5] After military college, Vane was assigned to the Worcestershire Militia, Scots Guards[8] and the Submarine Mining section[9] of the Royal Engineers over the period of 1883-1888.

[4] At the start of World War I, Vane returned to the Army as a recruiting officer with the rank of Major and was sent to Ireland, attached to the Royal Munster Fusiliers.

Vane had been directed to take command of the defence of Portobello Barracks, Dublin, then garrison for the largely Belfast-recruited Royal Irish Rifles and the Ulster Militia Battalion.

[12] Daily News, Manchester Guardian, Westminster and Truth employed Vane from 1902 to 1904 as a reporter for South Africa.

He was the unsuccessful Liberal Party candidate for Burton in the 1906 United Kingdom general election.

Vane pushed for the Boy Scouts to be more democratic, but his position was eliminated by Baden-Powell's headquarters staff.

In a protest meeting, the London area Scoutmasters voted overwhelming in support of Sir Francis, however Baden-Powell did not reinstate him.

On 3 December 1909, Vane accepted the presidency of the British Boy Scouts, taking several London-area Troops with him.

With Vane having an Italian summer home, he launched the Scouting Movement in Italy with the Ragazzi Esploratori Italiani in 1910.

Vane continued his involvement with the remnant BBS, as he inspected the Troop of the London Commissioner Percy Herbert Pooley in 1915.

Some joined in with the creation of the Catholic Association of Scouts (Associazione Scautistica Cattolica Italiana - ASCI) in 1916, later named AGESCI.

Sir Francis died in 1934 aged 72, after spending his last year of life in ill health at St Thomas' Hospital in Lambeth.

[18] In 2016, Fletcher-Vane was commemorated on a postage stamp in Ireland to mark the centenary of the Easter Rising.