without success. In 1927, he left for the United Kingdom as the Fascists quashed the Italian Scouting Movement, in favour of the Opera Nazionale Balilla (ONB), an Italian Fascist youth organisation. Despite a private letter to Sir Francis Vane 24 April 1933, sympathising with Vane’s worries, the Balilla was an organisation that was publicly highly praised by Baden-Powell, as the application of scouting as part of national education. Personal life He succeeded his cousin Sir Henry Ralph Fletcher-Vane as baronet in 1908. His first wife, Anna Oliphant da Costa Ricci, daughter of the Baron Anselmo da Costa Ricci of Portugal, whom he married in 1888, died in 1922. Vane became a Knight Commander of the Order of Christ (Portugal) in 1889. He married his second wife, Kathleen Crosbie in 1927. Sir Francis died in 1934 aged 72, after spending his last year of life in ill health at St Thomas' Hospital in Lambeth. Further reading Francis Fletcher Vane, Agin the governments: memories and adventures of Sir Francis Fletcher Vane'' (London, Sampson Low, Marston & Co., Ltd., 1929) References External links ODNB article by Roger T. Stearn, ‘Vane, Sir Francis Patrick Fletcher, fifth baronet (1861–1934)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, September 2004; online edn, May 2006 , accessed 7 April 2008. Biography at irishidentity.com Baronets in the Baronetage of Great Britain Scouting pioneers Military personnel from Dublin (city) 1861 births 1934 deaths People educated at Charterhouse School British Militia officers People of the Easter Rising British Army personnel of World War I Worcestershire Regiment officers Scots Guards officers British Army personnel of the Second Boer War Scouting and Guiding in the United Kingdom Scouting and Guiding in Italy People from Sidmouth People educated at Oxford Military College Fellows of the Royal Geographical Society Royal Engineers officers