Sir Robert Duncan Fairbairn (25 September 1910 – 26 March 1988) was a Scottish banker and amateur sportsman, who was the chairman of

Clydesdale Bank Clydesdale Bank () is a trading name used by Clydesdale Bank plc for its retail banking operations in Scotland. In June 2018, it was announced that Clydesdale Bank plc's holding company, CYBG, would acquire Virgin Money for £1.7 billi ...

from 1975 to 1985. In sport, he played two

first-class cricket First-class cricket, along with List A cricket and Twenty20 cricket, is one of the highest-standard forms of cricket. A first-class match is of three or more days scheduled duration between two sides of eleven players each and is officially adju ...

matches (one of which was for

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

) and played for St Johnstone in the

Scottish Football League The Scottish Football League (SFL) is a defunct league featuring professional and semi-professional football clubs mostly from Scotland.One club, Berwick Rangers, is based in the town of Berwick-upon-Tweed, which is located approximately 4&nbs ...

Early life and career

Fairbairn was born at Longhirst in

Northumberland Northumberland ( ) is a ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North East England, on the Anglo-Scottish border, border with Scotland. It is bordered by the North Sea to the east, Tyne and Wear and County Durham to the south, Cumb ...

, the fourth of five children of Robert Fairbairn and his wife, Christina Robertson. His family moved to

Perth Perth () is the list of Australian capital cities, capital city of Western Australia. It is the list of cities in Australia by population, fourth-most-populous city in Australia, with a population of over 2.3 million within Greater Perth . The ...

in Scotland, where he attended the

Perth Academy Perth Academy is a state comprehensive secondary school in Perth, Scotland. It was founded in 1696. The institution is a non-denominational one. The school occupies ground on the side of a hill in the Viewlands area of Perth, and is within the P ...

. His father was employed as head gamekeeper to Lord Forteviot at

Dupplin Castle Dupplin Castle is a country house and former castle in Perth and Kinross, Scotland, situated to the west of Aberdalgie and northeast of Forteviot and Dunning. It overlooks Strath Earn. The earliest known owner of the castle was Sir William O ...

in Perthshire. After leaving school, he joined the

in Perth at 17. In his youth, Fairbairn was active as a sportsman in the Perth area. He played cricket for the Dupplin and Perthshire clubs, and came to prominence in junior football as an inside-forward for St Johnstone YMCA. In June 1930, he signed for

club St Johnstone as an amateur. He made his senior debut in a 1–1 home draw against King's Park on 23 August 1930, but was "severely barracked" by a

Muirton Park Muirton Park was the second of three football stadiums the football club St Johnstone from Perth, Scotland, have occupied in their history. It was preceded by the Recreation Grounds (1885–1924) and succeeded by McDiarmid Park (1989&ndas ...

crowd disappointed by both his and the team's performance. After the Clydesdale Bank transferred Fairbairn to their head office in Glasgow, he continued his cricket career as an opening batsman for West of Scotland, and also played football for "one of the Queen's Park elevens". He was a recipient of the Beckett & Whitehead Prizeman from the

Institute of Bankers Walbrook Institute London is a for-profit provider of apprenticeships, degrees and professional qualifications, with students being members of the LIBF professional body. It is one of five bodies in the UK accredited by the Financial Conduct Auth ...

in 1934, the same year in which he joined the

Midland Bank Midland Bank plc was one of the Big Four (banks)#United Kingdom, Big Four banking groups in the United Kingdom for most of the 20th century. It is now part of HSBC. The bank was founded as the Birmingham and Midland Bank in Union Street, Birming ...

. While still employed by the Midland Bank at

Bolton Bolton ( , locally ) is a town in Greater Manchester in England. In the foothills of the West Pennine Moors, Bolton is between Manchester, Blackburn, Wigan, Bury, Greater Manchester, Bury and Salford. It is surrounded by several towns and vill ...

, he played

minor counties cricket The National Counties, known as the Minor Counties before 2020, are the cricketing counties of England and Wales that do not have first-class status. The game is administered by the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), which comes unde ...

in England for

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...

in 1938 and 1939, making seven appearances in the

Minor Counties Championship The NCCA 3 Day Championship or National County Championship is a season-long competition in England and Wales that is contested by the members of the National Counties Cricket Association (NCCA), the so-called national counties (previously ca ...

. His debut in

came for

against

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ) is an area of Northern England which was History of Yorkshire, historically a county. Despite no longer being used for administration, Yorkshire retains a strong regional identity. The county was named after its county town, the ...

Harrogate Harrogate ( ) is a spa town and civil parish in the North Yorkshire District, district and North Yorkshire, county of North Yorkshire, England. Historic counties of England, Historically in the West Riding of Yorkshire, the town is a tourist de ...

WWII and later career with Clydesdale Bank

Fairbairn joined the

Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve Royal may refer to: People * Royal (name), a list of people with either the surname or given name * A member of a royal family or royalty Places United States * Royal, Arkansas, an unincorporated community * Royal, Illinois, a village * Roya ...

(RNVR) in 1939, He was a sub lieutenant until September 1940, when he was promoted to the temporary rank of

lieutenant A lieutenant ( , ; abbreviated Lt., Lt, LT, Lieut and similar) is a Junior officer, junior commissioned officer rank in the armed forces of many nations, as well as fire services, emergency medical services, Security agency, security services ...

. He served in the RNVR until 1946, leaving the reserve with the rank of Lieutenant commander. While serving in the reserve, Fairbairn played one first-class cricket match in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

for the

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against the

Parsees The Parsis or Parsees () are a Zoroastrian ethnic group in the Indian subcontinent. They are descended from Persian refugees who migrated to the Indian subcontinent during and after the Arab-Islamic conquest of Iran in the 7th century, whe ...

in the 1944/45

Bombay Pentangular The Bombay Tournament was an annual cricket competition held in British India between 1892 and 1946. Until 1936, matches were played on either the Bombay Gymkhana Ground, Gymkhana Ground in Bombay or the Deccan Gymkhana Ground in Poona, and then ...

Bombay Mumbai ( ; ), also known as Bombay ( ; its official name until 1995), is the capital city of the Indian States and union territories of India, state of Maharashtra. Mumbai is the financial centre, financial capital and the list of cities i ...

. After leaving the reserve, he returned to his profession in banking. He was an assistant general manager for Clydesdale Bank in 1951. Fairbairn was

knighted A knight is a person granted an honorary title of a knighthood by a head of state (including the pope) or representative for service to the monarch, the church, or the country, especially in a military capacity. The concept of a knighthood ...

for services to development in Scotland in the 1975 Birthday Honours. He was chairman of Clydesdale Bank from 1975 to 1985. He died at

Guildford Guildford () is a town in west Surrey, England, around south-west of central London. As of the 2011 census, the town has a population of about 77,000 and is the seat of the wider Borough of Guildford, which had around inhabitants in . The nam ...

in March 1988.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairbairn, Robert 1910 births 1988 deaths People from Morpeth, Northumberland Cricketers from Northumberland Footballers from Northumberland People educated at Perth Academy Clydesdale Bank people Scottish bankers Scottish cricketers Cheshire cricketers Europeans cricketers Military personnel from Northumberland Royal Naval Volunteer Reserve personnel of World War II Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Scottish men's footballers Men's association football inside forwards Scottish Junior Football Association players Scottish Football League players St Johnstone F.C. players Queen's Park F.C. players Royal Navy officers of World War II 20th-century Scottish businesspeople