Stephen Fairbairn (25 August 1862 – 16 May 1938) was a

rower Rowing, sometimes called crew in the United States, is the sport of racing boats using oars. It differs from paddling sports in that rowing oars are attached to the boat using oarlocks, while paddles are not connected to the boat. Rowing is ...

and an influential rowing coach at Jesus College Boat Club,

Cambridge University The University of Cambridge is a Public university, public collegiate university, collegiate research university in Cambridge, England. Founded in 1209 and granted a royal charter by Henry III of England, Henry III in 1231, Cambridge is the world' ...

Thames Rowing Club The Thames Rowing Club (TRC) is a rowing club based on the tidal Thames as it flows through the western suburbs of London. The TRC clubhouse stands on Putney Embankment. The club was founded in 1860. As at July 2022, Thames had won events at H ...

and

London Rowing Club London Rowing Club (LRC, or colloquially, 'London') is the second-oldest of the non-academic active rowing clubs on the Thames in London, United Kingdom. It was founded in 1856 by members of the long-disbanded Argonauts Club wishing to compete at ...

in the early decades of the 20th century, and founded the prestigious

Head of the River Race The Head of the River Race (HORR) is an against-the-clock ('processional') rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England between eights, other such races being the Schools' Head of the River Race, Women's Head of the River Rac ...

in 1925.

Early life

Fairbairn was born in Toorak,

Melbourne Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...

, Australia the son of George Fairbairn (1815–1895), an early Victorian pioneer and a wealthy grazier. Fairbairn was educated at

Wesley College, Melbourne , motto_translation = Dare To Be Wise , slogan = A ''True'' Education (2010 – Present) , established = 18 January 1866 , type = Independent, day & boarding , gender ...

, and

Geelong Grammar School , motto_translation = 1 Corinthians 1:30: "For us, Christ was made wisdom"( 1 Corinthians 1:30: Christ, who has been made for us in wisdom) , city = Corio, Victoria , country = Australia , coordinates = , ...

, where he took up rowing and was regarded a good Australian rules footballer and

cricket Cricket is a bat-and-ball game played between two teams of eleven players on a field at the centre of which is a pitch with a wicket at each end, each comprising two bails balanced on three stumps. The batting side scores runs by str ...

er. He topped his leaving year in mathematics and was a senior school prefect. Five of Fairbairn's brothers, including future Australian MP

George George may refer to: People * George (given name) * George (surname) * George (singer), American-Canadian singer George Nozuka, known by the mononym George * George Washington, First President of the United States * George W. Bush, 43rd Presid ...

, had attended

Jesus College, Cambridge Jesus College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's full name is The College of the Blessed Virgin Mary, Saint John the Evangelist and the glorious Virgin Saint Radegund, near Cambridge. Its common name comes fr ...

and Steve followed them, to read Law from 1882. Patterson, Scott (2019) ''The Oarsmen'', Hardie Grant Books

Rowing career

Fairbairn rowed for Jesus College Boat Club, like his brothers and six of his cousins had done. In Jesus College crews, he rowed to success in the Cambridge University bumps races and Henley Royal Regatta, where they won the 1885

Grand Challenge Cup The Grand Challenge Cup is a rowing competition for men's eights. It is the oldest and best-known event at the annual Henley Royal Regatta on the River Thames at Henley-on-Thames in England. It is open to male crews from all eligible rowing ...

. He also won the hammer throwing and putting the weight at the Freshmen's sports for Jesus College. He rowed for

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...

in the

Boat Race Boat racing is a sport in which boats, or other types of watercraft, race on water. Boat racing powered by oars is recorded as having occurred in ancient Egypt, and it is likely that people have engaged in races involving boats and other wate ...

, in

1882 Events January–March * January 2 ** The Standard Oil Trust is secretly created in the United States to control multiple corporations set up by John D. Rockefeller and his associates. ** Irish-born author Oscar Wilde arrives in t ...

and

1883 Events January–March * January 4 – ''Life'' magazine is founded in Los Angeles, California, United States. * January 10 – A fire at the Newhall Hotel in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, United States, kills 73 people. * Ja ...

and later whilst conducting post-graduate studies in

1886 Events January–March * January 1 – Upper Burma is formally annexed to British Burma, following its conquest in the Third Anglo-Burmese War of November 1885. * January 5– 9 – Robert Louis Stevenson's novella ''Strange ...

and

1887 Events January–March * January 11 – Louis Pasteur's anti-rabies treatment is defended in the Académie Nationale de Médecine, by Dr. Joseph Grancher. * January 20 ** The United States Senate allows the Navy to lease Pearl ...

. After university Fairbairn's senior club rowing was from the Thames Rowing Club in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

Coaching career

Philosophy

Fairbairn was an early proponent of training his crews to slide in their seats to facilitate leg-drive. He had realised that the secret to world-champion sculler

Ned Hanlan Edward Hanlan (12 July 1855 – 4 January 1908) was a Canadian professional sculler, hotelier, and alderman from Toronto, Ontario. Early life Hanlan was born to Irish parents; one of two sons and two daughters. His mother was Mary Gibbs, his fath ...

's uncanny successes was not that he rowed a longer stroke, but rather that he used his legs to great effect during the stroke. He was also an advocate of fitting longer slides into boats to better allow the use of the legs. Fairbairn's observations led him to develop a revolutionary rowing style featuring concurrent use of the legs, back and arms at the catch. He also coached that crews should not focus unduly on positioning their bodies according to rigid rules but should instead concentrate on the movement of the blade, creating an easy, flowing movement. His philosophy was that rowing, when done well, should be a sublimely enjoyable experience. All of these features of his coaching are referred to as "Fairbairnism". There is continuing debate among rowing coaches and historians as to whether Fairbairnism better describes a style of rowing or philosophy of coaching.

Influence

Fairbairn was an

iconoclast Iconoclasm (from Greek: grc, εἰκών, lit=figure, icon, translit=eikṓn, label=none + grc, κλάω, lit=to break, translit=kláō, label=none)From grc, εἰκών + κλάω, lit=image-breaking. ''Iconoclasm'' may also be conside ...

with strong views and great charisma. Opinions of him and his methods tended to be extreme. Fairbairn corresponded widely and wrote four volumes on coaching, and his views were therefore adopted by many coaches across the globe. In the 1920s and 1930s, many coaches followed his lead completely. However, others felt Fairbairnism to be anathema to the principles of the "English Orthodox" style. To those observers, Fairbairn's crews rowed sloppily. The schism between "Orthodoxy" and "Fairbairnism" had largely disappeared from rowing by the 1940s. Fairbairn's books were collected, and reprinted in 1951 and again in 1990.

Training methodology

Fairbairn was a strong believer in the benefits of distance training; part of his philosophy was that "mileage makes champions". As such he developed the concept of the

head race A head race is a time-trial competition in the sport of rowing. Head races are typically held in the fall, winter and spring seasons. These events draw many athletes as well as observers. In this form of racing, rowers race against the clock wh ...

, a long-distance race against the clock to mark the end of winter training, thus encouraging crews to train over longer distances. Fairbairn also applied this attitude of not encouraging half measures, with advice on how many pints to drink before a race: "No fewer than two, no more than seven". In 1926 he founded the

, for men's eights held annually since on

The Championship Course The Championship Course is a stretch of the River Thames between Mortlake and Putney in London, England. It is a well-established course for rowing races, particularly the Oxford and Cambridge Boat Race. The course is on the tidal reaches of t ...

on the

River Thames The River Thames ( ), known alternatively in parts as the River Isis, is a river that flows through southern England including London. At , it is the longest river entirely in England and the second-longest in the United Kingdom, after the R ...

. Similarly he donated a trophy for a head race to be held annually on the River Cam. " The Fairbairn Cup" (known colloquially as "Fairbairns") is the annual race held on the first Thursday and Friday after the end of the University of Cambridge's Michaelmas Full Term (typically early in December). The race is organised by Jesus College Boat Club in Cambridge.

Memorial

Fairbairn died in

, 16 May 1938. His ashes rest beneath the shadow of Jesus College chapel. A portrait by James Quinn hangs in the college. A duplicate of the Quinn portrait hangs in Thames Rowing Club's Putney clubhouse. A memorial to Fairbairn is situated on the southern bank of the Thames between

Putney Putney () is a district of southwest London, England, in the London Borough of Wandsworth, southwest of Charing Cross. The area is identified in the London Plan as one of 35 major centres in Greater London. History Putney is an ancient paris ...

and Hammersmith. This memorial, a stone obelisk popularly known as the Mile Post, is exactly one mile from the

end of the Championship Course. In

the Boat Race The Boat Race is an annual set of rowing races between the Cambridge University Boat Club and the Oxford University Boat Club, traditionally rowed between open-weight eights on the River Thames in London, England. There are separate men's ...

and

Wingfield Sculls The Wingfield Sculls is a rowing race held annually on the River Thames in London, England, on the Championship Course from Putney to Mortlake. The race is between single scullers and is usually on the Saturday three to four weeks before the S ...

, the Mile Post is a formal intermediate timing point, and it marks one mile from the finish of the Head of the River Race. A bronze bust of Fairbairn by George Drinkwater is the winner's trophy for the Head of the River Race. In 2010 Fairbairn was inducted into the Rowing Victoria Hall of Fame.

Personal life

Fairbairn married Eleanor Sharwood daughter of Sydney Sharwood, on 18 November 1891 at Toorak, Melbourne, Victoria. Their eldest son Ian Fairbairn competed as a rower in the 1924 Summer Olympics and was a financier who originated the

unit trust A unit trust is a form of collective investment constituted under a trust deed. A unit trust pools investors' money into a single fund, which is managed by a fund manager. Unit trusts offer access to a wide range of investments, and depending on ...

. Their second son, Sydney Fairbairn, was a cricketer and British Army officer. Steve Fairbairn's nephew George Eric Fairbairn won a silver medal in the 1908 Summer Olympics.

Bibliography

* ''Rowing Notes'', 1926. * ''Slowly Forward'', 1929. * ''Some Secrets of Successful Rowing'', 1930. * ''Fairbairn of Jesus'' (autobiography), 1931. * ''Chats on Rowing'', 1934.

References

Additional sources listed by the ''Australian Dictionary of Biography'': :F. Brittain and H. B. Playford, ''The Jesus College Boat Club, Cambridge'' (Cambridge, 1928), and ''The Jesus College, Cambridge, Boat Club'', 1827-1962 (Cambridge, 1962); ''Dictionary of National Biography'', 1931–40; A. Gray and F. Brittain, ''A History of Jesus College, Cambridge'' (Lond, 1960); Geelong Grammar School (1) ''Annual'', 1875–76, and (2) ''Quarterly'', 1877–80, and (3) ''Corian'', May 1921, May 1926, Dec 1932, Aug 1938, Oct 1974, June 1975; Jesus College Cambridge, ''Chanticlere'', Easter 1925; 'Obituary', Times (London), 17 May 1938, p 18; Geelong Grammar School Archives {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbairn, Steve 1862 births 1938 deaths Alumni of Jesus College, Cambridge Cambridge University Boat Club rowers British male rowers Australian male rowers Rowing coaches Stewards of Henley Royal Regatta People educated at Geelong Grammar School Steve