Fairbairns, JM
(1896 - 1917)
Key Facts
DATE OF BIRTH:
1st April 1896
YEARS ATTENDED THE COLLEGE:
1910 - 1914
HOME ADDRESS WHEN AT THE COLLEGE:
63 Alleyn Park, West Dulwich, SE21
REGIMENT
Royal Field Artillery
FINAL RANK:
2nd Lieutenant
DATE OF DEATH:
20th August 1917
AGE AT DEATH:
21
WHERE HE DIED (or was wounded)
Ypres
LOCATION OF GRAVE OR MEMORIAL:
Poperinghe New Military Cemetery. II H 22
2nd Lieutenant Joseph Maurice Fairbairns
Born in Streatham on April 1st 1896 Joseph was the fourth and youngest son of commission agent Thomas Fairbairns and his wife, Elizabeth; not only had all three of his elder brothers, Charles, Wilfred and Reginald, preceded him at Dulwich, but his eldest sister, Dorothy, would also go on to marry an OA, Oswyn Smith. He started at the College shortly after his fourteenth birthday, and went on to stay just over four years, leaving in the summer of 1914 whilst a member of the Modern 6th.
At the outbreak of war Joseph signed up as a rifleman in the Artists Rifles, going on to be granted a commission in the Royal Field Artillery in April 1917. He spent some time after this in training at Woolwich, before returning to the front in August, where he was attached to the 8th Divisional Ammunition Column, involved in the logistics of ammunition supply around Ypres. Just over a week later, on August 20th, he was in charge of an ammunition convoy near the front line when it was hit by a German shell, killing him and many of his men.
