After the 1910 cricket season, Fender worked in a paper mill in Horwich, Lancashire, to experience paper manufacturing—his father's line of business—at first hand. While feeding paper into a machine, his left hand was trapped in the mechanism and injured. Three of his fingers were crushed at the tips; upon healing, they remained stiff and numb for the rest of his life. Fender remained in Horwich at the start of the 1911 cricket season and played several times for Manchester Cricket Club. He was on the verge of selection for Lancashire when he had to return to Brighton. That season he played twice for Sussex; the following year, in his second match for the county, he scored his maiden first-class century, against Oxford University. He followed this by taking five for 42 (five wickets taken and 42 runs conceded) against Surrey. After these successes, Fender played regularly for the remainder of the 1912 season. In total, he scored 606 runs at an average of 24.24, and, bowling medium pace, took 16 wickets at an average of 25.50.