James Valentine Fairbairn (1897 - 1940)

Born 28 Jul 1897 in Wadhurst, Sussex, England

Ancestors

Husband of Daisy Olive (Forrester) Kemble — married 21 Mar 1923 in St. John's Church, Toorak, Victoria, Australia

Died 13 Aug 1940 at age 43 in Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

Royal Flying Corps | CWGC Memorial Civilian Roll of Honour

Biography

14. A passion for the air: (I) | James Fairbairn (II)

James Valentine Fairbairn, ^[1] grazier, politician, flyer, was a man whose adult life had been shaped by war, the Great War. Fairbairn, born in Wadhurst, England, in 1897, grew up in Victoria’s Western District. His grandfather George Fairbairn, who died before he was born, was a pioneer pastoralist whose holdings in Victoria and Queensland totalled millions of acres. His father, Charles, the third of six brothers, had been joint general manager with his brother, George, of the Fairbairns’ Queensland properties.
At one time, as another brother, the legendary Cambridge rowing coach Steve Fairbairn, recalled, they were running 300 000 sheep ‘the finest big flock … in the world, but they were travelling all over Australia for food’. Charles Fairbairn married Elizabeth, daughter of Sir James Osborne of Yackendandah. He acquired Banongill near Skipton,\|/ and moved there with his family in the year of his second son James’s birth.

On his eleventh birthday Jim, or Jimmy as some of his friends called him, was despatched with 11 cakes to be a boarder at Geelong Church of England Grammar Preparatory School. In 1909 he moved to the Geelong Grammar senior school, where he had been preceded by his father, five uncles, and his older brother, Charles Osborne, known as Osborne.
The Fairbairns were a Grammar dynasty, captains of the cricket team, senior prefects and then, spurning the fledgling Melbourne University, undergraduates at Jesus College, Cambridge. Like most of his forebears, Jim’s six years at Geelong were remembered principally for his sporting achievements. He was a member of the running team, played in the tennis four, and rowed in the first eight. Scholastically, he distinguished himself in Classics, winning the prize for Greek in his final year . . . more . . . anu.edu.au

James Valentine Fairbairn ^{[2] [3]}

PARENTS. Charles Fairbairn & Elizabeth (Osborne) Fairbairn

BIRTH. 28 Jul 1897, Wadhurst, Sussex, England

1902. TO AUSTRALIA. In the Oldenburg

Unassisted passenger lists (1852-1923) Record Series Number (VPRS): 947: ^[4]

Name | Age | Ship | Arrival Date

FAIRBAIRN, C, 43, | Oldenburg, | MAY 1902

FAIRBAIRN, ---- MRS, 35, | Oldenburg, | MAY 1902

FAIRBAIRN, ---- MISS, 10, | Oldenburg, | MAY 1902

FAIRBAIRN, ---- MASTER, 9, | Oldenburg, | MAY 1902

FAIRBAIRN, ---- MASTER, 4, | Oldenburg, | MAY 1902

FAIRBAIRN, ---- SERVANT WITH, 32, | Oldenburg, | MAY 1902

MARRIAGE. 21 Mar 1923, St. John's Church, Toorak, Victoria, Australia

MARRIAGE. 21 Mar 1923, Daisy Olive Forrester, daughter of Charles Forrester & Alice Maud May (Mooney) Forrester

MARRIAGE. VIC BDM Marriage Reg: #809/1923

Family name FAIRBAIRN | Given names Jas Valentine

Event Marriage

Spouse's family name FORRESTER | Spouse's given names Daisy Olive

Children:

(1) Geoffrey Forrester Fairbairn, b. 6 Oct 1924, d. 11 Sep 1980,

m (1). 21 Jul 1945, Rosamund Anne Clifford, daughter of Lewis Joseph Clifford & Amy Beaumont (Webster) Clifford, div. 1965.
m (2). 1965, Anne Body, neé Reid, granddaughter of Sir George Reid

(2) Angela Elizabeth Fairbairn, b. 10 Jul 1927, d. bef. 2015,

m. 23 Apr 1954, Peter Ramsden Cockburn Mercer, son of William Frank Cockburn Mercer & Jessie Stuart (Ramsden (Gayer) Mercer

Death and Memorial

DEATH. 13 Aug 1940, Canberra, Australian Capital Territory, Australia

DEATH. ACT BDM Death Reg: #20000519/1940

Family name FAIRBAIRN | Given names JAMES VALENTINE

Date of death 13/08/1940

DEATH REPORT. ^[5] TEN KILLED IN AIR CRASH AT CANBERRA.
THREE MINISTERS. Sir Brudenell White And RAAF. Crew. From Our Special Representative. CANBERRA, Tuesday. — Australia suffered a grave loss at a most critical stage in her history this morning, when a Royal Australian Air Force bomber crashed a few miles from Canberra/ while carrying two service Ministers, the Vice-President of the Executive Council and the Chief of the General Staff, to a Cabinet meeting, which was to have been held here to-day. All the occupants of the plane, ten in number, were killed. The victims were : —

Mr. G. A. Street Minister of the Army

Mr. J. V. Fairbairn, Minister of Air NAA: A1378, P8903 : crash at Canberra

Sir H. Gullett, Vice-Pres. of the Executive Council

General Sir Brudenell White, Chief of General Staff

Lieut.-Colonel F. H. Thornthwaite, Staff Officer to the Chief of the General Staff

Mr. R. Elford, secretary to the Air Minister

Flight-Lieutenant R. E. Hitchcock | Pilot-Officer R. F. Wiesener

Corporal J. F. Palmer, wireless operator | Aircraftman C. J. Crosdale, fitter . . .

Death. ACT BDM | Death Registrations | 13 Aug 1940:

Registration | Surname | Given names | Date of death |

number

20000511 Wiesener | Richard Frederick | Thornthwaite Francis | 13/08/1940 RSL

20000513 Crosdale CHARLES JOSEPH | 13/08/1940

20000514 White Cyril Brudenell Bingham | 13/08/1940

20000515 Elford RICHARD EDWIN | 13/08/1940

20000516 Street Geoffrey Austin | 13/08/1940

20000517 Palmer JOHN FREDERICK | 13/08/1940

20000518 Gullett HENRY SOMER | 13/08/1940

20000519 Fairbairn James Valentine | 13/08/1940

20000521 Hitchcock Robert Edward | RSL

Memorial Cairn.
Air Disaster Memorial and the Great War: ^[6] On a hill near the NSW city of Queanbeyan, and not far from Canberra Airport, is a memorial dedicated to the memory of several distinguished Australians killed when an aeroplane carrying three Federal Ministers bound for a cabinet meeting – Sir Henry Gullet, James Fairburn and Geoffrey Street – crashed on approach to Canberra on 13 August 1940.
It was a time of new national crisis, and the disaster was a body-blow to the war effort. Australia could ill afford to lose such

FUNERAL NOTICE. FAIRBAIRN. ^[7] — The Funeral of the late JAMES VALENTINE FAIRBAIRN, Minister of Air, will leave St. Paul's, Cathedral, Melbourne, THIS (Thursday) MORNING, August 15, after a service commencing at 11.45 a.m., for the Spring Vale Crematorium, where a service will be conducted by Rev. J. H. Allen.

CREMATION. Springvale Botanical Cemetery

Family name Fairbairn | Given names James Valentine

Cremated 15/08/1940 | Location The cremated remains have been collected

PROBATE.

James V FAIRBAIRN

Date of grant: 12 Dec 1940; | Date of death: 13 Aug 1940;

Occupation: Grazier, Minister For Air; | Residence: Derrinallum

File#318/135: VPRS 7591/ P2 unit 1121, item 318/135; VPRS 28/ P3 unit 3430, item 318/135

Death of Spouse: 19 Apr 1972, Easthampstead, Berkshire, England

Fairbairn Airbase, (the eastern part of what is now known as Canberra Airport), was named after him in 1953. In 1962 the military side of the aerodrome was renamed RAAF Base Fairbairn. The RAAF Base has now been decommissioned, but the north-east quadrant of the airport still retains the Fairbairn name.

Sources

1. ↑ Ten Journeys to Cameron’s Farm | 14. A passion for the air: James Fairbairn (I) . . with images . | 15. ‘A minister or a clerk?’ : Jim Fairbairn (II) . . with images .
2. ↑ Fairbairn, James Valentine (Jim) (1897–1940): oa.anu.edu
3. ↑ James Valentine Fairbairn: The Fairbairn Windows, by Michael Collins Persse, Light Blue - September 2016, Published on Oct 5, 2016
4. ↑ FAIRBAIRN FAMILY in the Oldenburg: Unassisted passenger lists (1852-1923) Record Series Number (VPRS): 947:
5. ↑ Death Report: The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)
   Wed 14 Aug 1940, Page 9:
6. ↑ https://www.nca.gov.au/attractions-and-memorials/air-disaster-memorial
7. ↑ Funeral Notice: The Age (Melbourne, Vic. : 1854 - 1954)
   Thu 15 Aug 1940, Page 1:

• Marriage: VIC BDM Marriage Reg: #809/1923

• Death: ACT BDM Death Reg: #20000519/1940