Ian Fairbairn

Stephen Ian Fairbairn (14 April 18965 December 1968)

Personal life Fairbairn was the son of Steve Fairbairn and his wife Eleanor née Sharwood. He went to school at Eton.

Fairbairn married Cynthia Isabelle Theresa Arbuthnot, daughter of Gerald Arbuthnot, MP for Burnley on 27 July 1925. They had two children and were divorced in 1941. He was married a second time in 1941, to Esmée V. H. Bethell (also known as Esmée Stobart from her earlier marriage, from which she had two sons). She was killed in an air-raid by a flying bomb in 1944.

Career Military After leaving school, Fairbairn attended Royal Military College Sandhurst, and was commissioned as a second lieutenant in the Royal Horse Guards on 11 November 1914. He was posted to France on 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.

Rowing He was a member of Thames Rowing Club, as was his father, taking part in a race on the Thames at Putney on 12 April 1919. In 1920 he was runner up in Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta in a coxless pair with Bruce Logan. In 1923 Fairbairn stroked the Thames crew which won the Grand Challenge Cup, and was again stroke in the Thames crew that made up the eight rowing for Great Britain at the 1924 Summer Olympics, finishing fourth. He was Captain of Thames (again following his father) in 1933, a vice president from 1927 to 1967 and President from 1967 until his death a year later. He was a Steward of Henley Royal Regatta from 1948 until his death.

Finance After the First World War, Fairbairn worked at the London Stock Exchange and in Paris for several years. He also studied at the London School of Economics. He pioneered the unit trust industry at M&G Investments which he joined in 1935 as an investment manager. From 1943 he was chair of M&G.