Background
Fairbairn was the son of Stephen Fairbairn and his wife Eleanor née Sharwood.
Fairbairn was the son of Stephen Fairbairn and his wife Eleanor née Sharwood.
He was educated at Eton, and then attended Royal Military College Sandhurst, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards on 11 November 1914.
By then the First World War was underway, but he was not posted to France until 19 May 1915, having just been promoted to lieutenant on 14 May. He transferred to the Guards Machine Gun Regiment on 12 August 1918, and was promoted captain on 18 October 1918. He ceased to be employed with the Guards Machine Gun Regiment on 31 January 1919, and resigned his commission on 1 May 1919.
He was badly wounded during the war.
In 1920 he was runner up in Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta in a coxless pair with Bruce Logan. He was Captain of Thames (again following his father) in 1933, a Vice President from 1927-1967 and President from 1967 until his death a year later.
He was a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta from 1948 until his death. Fairbairn pioneered the unit trust industry at M&G Investments which he joined in 1931.
He believed that investments in equities should be available to everyone so that there was a wider ownership of stakes in the nation"s economy.
Fairbairn married Cynthia Isabelle Theresa Arbuthnot, daughter of Gerald Arbuthnot Member of Parliament for Burnley on 27 July 1925. She was killed by a V-1 flying bomb in 1944. Fairbairn appears to have held a reserve commission during the Second World War, but it is not clear if he saw any service.
From 1943 he was chairman of M&G.
In 1955 he became chairman of the parent group White Drummond.
By this time, he was already a member of Thames Rowing Club, as was his father, taking part in a race on the Thames at Putney on 12 April 1919.