Frederick Fane

Frederick Luther Fane, MC (27 April 1875 – 27 November 1960) played cricket for the England cricket team in 14 Test matches. He also played for Essex, Oxford University and London County.

Frederick Fane

Fane in 1912
Personal information
Born	(1875-04-27)27 April 1875 Curragh Camp, County Kildare, Ireland
Died	27 November 1960(1960-11-27) (aged 85) Kelvedon Hatch, Essex, United Kingdom
Batting	Right-handed
International information
National side	England
Test debut	2 January 1906 v South Africa
Last Test	14 March 1910 v South Africa
Career statistics
Competition Test First-class Matches 14 417 Runs scored 682 18,548 Batting average 26.23 27.39 100s/50s 1/3 25/83 Top score 143 217 Catches/stumpings 6/– 194/0
Source: ESPN Cricinfo, 30 December 2021

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.^[1] He was a great-grandson of John Fane, a politician, of the family of the Earls of Westmorland. He was educated at Charterhouse School and Magdalen College, Oxford.^[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 won two and lost three of these games.

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.

During the First World War Fane was commissioned in the West Yorkshire Regiment. 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. He displayed the greatest coolness and determination."^[3]