Vere Fane was commissioned as a lieutenant in the Manchester Regiment on 12 November 1884[2] and in March 1888 transferred to the Bengal Staff Corps of the British Indian Army.

[3] Promoted to captain on 12 November 1895,[4] he was on 1 April 1900 appointed deputy assistant adjutant-general in Derajat, attached to the Punjab Command.

[5] Only months later, he was in August 1900 appointed to serve on the staff of the Indian Cavalry Brigade that formed part of the China Field Force during the Boxer Rebellion,[6] and from October that year acted as Provost marshal and police commissioner in Tianjin.

[7] For his services during the campaign, he was Mentioned in Despatches by Lieutenant-General Sir Alfred Gaselee,[8] and by Major-General O'Moore Creagh.

[17] In 1915 Fane was commanding officer of the Bannu Brigade on the North West Frontier and in recognition for his actions during the attack on Miranshah in March he was made a Companion of the Order of the Indian Empire.