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Joined TRC in 1999.

Born in Elvet Hill, Durham. Educated at Durham by Mr Marshall and at Jesus College, Cambridge. Rugby blue and Durham county player.

Born in Corbridge, Northumberland.
Part of TRC's first winning crew at Henley - the Wyfold Challenge Cup in 1870 - and then went on to win in several other events.
He was Captain in the 1871 season.
He served as a Steward of Henley for over 30 years and only missed the regatta in 1939, shortly before he died.
He was a Solicitor (a partner, with Walter Rye, in Rye & Eyre of Golden Square) and was closely involved in the negotiation of the purchase of the freehold of the clubhouse and land.
Aside from Thames, he also had a long association with Kensington Rowing Club.

Fairbairn, Stephen (1862–1938), oarsman, was born at Toorak, Melbourne, Australia, on 25 August 1862, the fifth of the six sons of George Fairbairn and his wife, Virginia Charlotte, youngest daughter of George Armytage of Geelong, Victoria, a native of Derbyshire. George Fairbairn, having emigrated from Berwickshire in 1839, owned a large sheep station and in the 1870s started the first canning and meat-freezing works in Australia. The Scottish theologian Patrick Fairbairn was Stephen's uncle, and one of his elder brothers was Sir George Fairbairn, agent-general for Victoria from 1924 to 1927.

Fairbairn was a spirited and somewhat unruly child, and he passed through several schools before settling at Geelong grammar school, under the guiding influence of the headmaster, J. B. Wilson. A tall and handsome youth, he earned distinction in all forms of sport, but also performed well academically, and he followed his brothers to Jesus College, Cambridge, where he read law, graduating in 1884. He was called to the bar by the Inner Temple in 1886 but did not practise. In 1884 he returned to Australia, where, but for two intervals in England, in 1886–7 and 1897–8, he worked at the family's farming interests in Victoria and western Queensland. On 18 November 1891 he married Ellen, daughter of Sydney Sharwood of Aramac, Queensland; they had two sons. Fairbairn came back to England in 1904 and thereafter devoted himself almost exclusively to coaching various rowing clubs, both in London, where he worked as a director of Dalgety & Co., Australia, merchants, and in Cambridge.

Fairbairn rowed in the losing Cambridge crews of 1882 and 1883 and in the victorious crews of 1886 and 1887, and won many other races besides, including the Grand Challenge Cup, the Stewards', and the Wyfold at Henley. However, his claim to fame rests on his methods of coaching and the success of the crews that he coached. In an era of competing rowing styles, with their emphasis on differing body positions during the stroke, some tried to attribute to Fairbairn a new style, ‘Fairbairnism’. That, however, came from a complete misunderstanding of the man. Fairbairn created no new style and had no desire to invent one. He wrote: 'There are certain principles underlying rowing, and what is called style is the endeavour to carry them out. Variations are merely failures to carry out the principles. There can be only one true style.' He emphasized above all a powerful leg drive and a relaxed recovery to maximize the boat speed, and he cared little for the aesthetic effect that this produced. He turned the pupil's mind to the oar in the water and to moving the boat, regardless of the angle of the head or the straightness of the back, whereas the orthodox coach would concentrate on positioning the body in order to produce certain results on the oar and the passage of the boat. Fairbairn summed up the debate over style as '“pretty pretty” versus honest hard work' and wrote: 'Never sacrifice work to appearance; but of course style is effect, and honest hard work will give true style eventually' (The Times, 1 June 1931; Fairbairn on Rowing, 542).

Fairbairn coached always for looseness and ease. A favourite remark was: 'If you can't do it easily, you can't do it at all'. He would never try to correct by condemnation and gave wide licence to individuals to develop their stroke naturally. He was ahead of his time in recognizing the importance of the subconscious mind in the development of technique, and his famous phrase 'Mileage makes champions' resonates still. He set before the performer an ideal after which to strive: if in his striving he did some odd things, never mind; the key was to be positive in coaching and encourage rather than criticize. It was inevitable that some of his crews, which had moved only a little way along the road to perfection, showed ungainly attitudes and exaggerations of ideals which earned bitter condemnation from more orthodox coaches, but what Fairbairn's crews lost in aesthetics they often gained in speed.

Fairbairn was an enthusiast, and was able to impart his enthusiasm to his pupils. He was ever progressive, ever ready to try out some new idea in coaching or some new device such as long slides or swivel rowlocks. He did much to make rowing popular, particularly in the clubs at Putney, and in 1925 he instituted the ‘head of the river’ race on the Putney to Mortlake course: a bronze bust of Fairbairn, by George Drinkwater, is held each year by the winning crew as the trophy. He coached many successful crews of both the London Rowing Club and the Thames Rowing Club, but his old college, Jesus, always took first place in his affections, and for more than thirty-three years he devoted himself to coaching its crews. It was a small college with a small boat club, but Fairbairn brought it many successes. His crews always raced hard and often won against crews which seemed to be better or more experienced.

Fairbairn was known throughout the rowing world as Steve, and even those who disagreed with his unorthodox ways admitted his genuine love of rowing, his boundless enthusiasm, his kindliness, and his genius for coaching. He cut a tall, portly figure on the river bank, 'in an old blue blazer, with back as straight as when he rowed in '82, chest thrown out, head slightly on one side, and eyes fixed immovably on the crews racing past' (The Times, 17 May 1938). His writings include Rowing Notes (1926) and an autobiography, Fairbairn of Jesus (1931). His collected writings on rowing were published in a single volume in 1990, Steve Fairbairn on Rowing, edited by his son Ian. Fairbairn died at his residence, the Mostyn Hotel, Portman Square, London, on 16 May 1938, in which year Jesus College retained the headship of the Cam; his ashes rest beneath the shadow of the college chapel. He is remembered in Cambridge by the Fairbairn cup races, which he inaugurated in the late 1920s as a handicap race between Jesus crews to serve as a form guide towards the end of Michaelmas term. The event later expanded to include other colleges and, in 1976, a women's event as well. And on the Thames in London there is the Steve Fairbairn memorial stone: marking 1 mile from the start of the boat race course at Putney, and 1 mile from the finish of the head of the river race, it aptly commemorates Fairbairn's immense contribution both to varsity and to tideway rowing.

Ian Fairbairn was the son of Steve 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. He was not 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.

He was the Unionist candidate for Burnley (his first father-in-law's old constituency) in the 1924 and 1929 general elections; on both occasions he came second behind Labour's Arthur Henderson.

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 in 1933, a Vice President from 1927–67 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.

He 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 and he married a second time in 1941 to Esmée V. H. Bethell. 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. In 1961 created the Esmée Fairbairn Charitable Trust as a memorial to his second wife, transferring his personal holding in White Drummond to the trust – through this investment it became one of the largest charities in the UK.

Edgar (Eddie) Folker's great nephew Malcolm Smith has collected the following information as part of his family history research:

Edgar Reginald Folker was born on 23 October 1884 at 106 St.Georges Road, Upper Holloway, London. He was known as Eddie and was the third in a family of five children. The census of 1891 shows him living with his family at Albert Terrace, Wolstanton in Staffordshire.

Eddie attended St.Pauls College in Southgate then Willesden High School. There is a reference to Woodland College also he may have started or prepared to start at Cambridge University. He was in the choir at St.Michaels church at Stonebridge Park.

He started work as an apprentice to the Vauxhall Engineering Company although the census of 1901 records his occupation as Apprentice (Marine Engineering). At that time he was lodging at 1 Studley Road in Lambeth, the home of Arthur and Rose Simms and their children. It appears that he progressed so well that he drove a special car at the Isle of Man trials. It is known that he also drove in other speed tests, some of which were at Brooklands race track. It is also known that in 1910, a Vauxhall became the first 20HP car to exceed 100mph.

Eddie's niece Dora recalled that he was a racing driver and drove for Siddeley Deasy at Brooklands. There is a lovely photograph of the entire family taken outside the family home at 12 Park Road, Harlesden in 1907. The occasion is the wedding of his cousin, John Herbert Folker, to Marie van Dillen and the couple are sitting in a Siddeley Deasy car which one must presume Edgar had provided and was driving.

Eddie then joined the Rover Company where he became assistant manager. He eventually started his own business in the motor trade, having a showroom at 60 Haymarket in London, which is where he was also living at that time. The entry in the Post Office Directory for 1914 lists him as a motor & car dealer, his telephone number being GERrard 8600 and his telegraph address as Vanquisher, Charles. He was a member of The Motor Club at Whitcomb Street, not far from his showroom.

As an adult, he was described by his niece, Dora Folker (to whom he was godfather), as a dashing man with black curly hair. He was a big man being 6'4" tall and weighing about 14 stone.

Eddie was a keen sportsman. He was a member of The Thames Rowing Club which was originally formed in 1860 for the purpose of "organised pleasure or exercise rowing". He represented them at various regattas including Henley. There is a story regarding an event at Goring Regatta when his rigger broke. Realising that he was a dead weight, he discarded his oar then dived off coming up behind the boat after the last oar had passed. He was also a member of Twickenham Rowing Club which was founded on 26th July 1860 and is, jointly with Thames Rowing Club the third oldest of the rowing clubs on the Thames, and is located on Eel Pie Island. Additionally, he was a member of The Remenham Club, which was formed in 1909 by Members of Metropolitan and Up-River Clubs, to establish a meeting place at Henley for past and present rowing men, their families and personal friends.

Along with his brothers Arthur and Sydney, Edgar joined the York and Lancaster Regiment in World War 1. His Application for Appointment to a Commission in the Special Reserve of Officers was completed and signed by him on 13 August 1914. The application indicated that he was able to ride a horse. On 15 August he joined the 3rd (Reserve) batallion where he served in the rank of 2nd lieutenant. He underwent a physical fitness test at Hounslow Barracks on 25th August and was pronounced fit. The form details his physical attributes recording that he was 6'3" tall, weighed just over 14 stones, had good vision but had three fales teeth on a bottom plate.

On 15 January 1915, Edgar embarked at Southampton for France. Tragically, just over five weeks later he was killed in action. The military documents record the date of his death variously as 19 or 20 February 1915. On the 20th of February, the 2nd Battalion King's Own Scottish Borderers relieved the battalion of the York and Lancaster Regiment in the trenches at Verbranden Molen in the Ypres Salient. He was in trench 37 near Verbranden Molen when a shell exploded in a connecting sap. He went to investigate the damage but was overcome by poisonous fumes which proved fatal. The Casualty Form gave other details, including a sketch of the place at which he was buried. The Field Service Report of 1 March 1915 gave a brief official record of the event.

On 22 February, Edgar's father had received the dreaded telegram notifying his death, there was some correspondence between him and the War Office regarding the place where Edgar was buried. A copy of the sketch was sent to Edgar's father by the Military Secretary with a letter on 14 June 1915, however, that sketch is now lost. Edgar's Commanding Officer wrote the following to his father - Although your son had only been with us a comparatively short time, yet he had endeared himself to us all, and we very much miss him in the regiment. I feel that nothing I can say will be able to alleviate your sorrow, but I am sureyou will be glad to hear what an excellent officer he was, and could very ill be spared. He was so keen on everything he had to do and did it so well, and the men of his company were so fond of him.

A memorial service was held at St.Michaels church on 13 March 1915 and an obituary appeared in the Willesden Chronicle on 26th. Edgar's father was devastated by his death and kept a shrine in the house with his photograph and medals on display. The medals went out of the possession of the family later on, most likely after Edgar's mother passed away and his father cleared the house of many possessions. By chance, a great nephew of Edgar was made aware that the medals were coming up at auction and he was able to secure them prior to the auction. Edgar's name is also remembered at the Menin Gate memorial at Ypres. His great nephew, Malcolm Smith, visited the memorial on the centenary of Edgar's death to pay his respects.

Edgar had made a Will on arrival in France on active service. Administration was made to his father on 29 March 1915. An extract from the Letters of Administration show the gross value of Edgar's estate as being £2229:8s:4d.

Tragedy spread further to Edgar's girl friend, Peggy Trull, who suffered injury to her spine when diving into a swimming pool and was subsequently paralysed and confined to a wheelchair.

Lord Mayor of London, 1974–75