Fane was born at Curragh Camp in County Kildare, Ireland, where his father Frederick John Fane, an officer in the British Army, was stationed with the 61st (South Gloucestershire) Regiment of Foot.

[2] Fane captained the England cricket team on five occasions: three times when he took over from the injured Arthur Jones, and twice when he took over from H. D. G. Leveson Gower.

He was the first Irish-born player to score a century in a Test match for England and remained the only one for over a hundred years, until Eoin Morgan repeated the feat against Pakistan at Trent Bridge in July 2010.

He was awarded the Military Cross in 1917 "for conspicuous gallantry and devotion to duty while commanding a patrol.

Having obtained valuable information, he withdrew his men from a difficult position under heavy machine gun fire.