Stephen Ian Fairbairn (14 April 1896 – 5 December 1968)[1] was a British financier and rower who competed in the 1924 Summer Olympics, and later rose to the position of chairman of the M&G fund management company.
[6]: 6 [4] In 1961 he created the Esmée Fairbairn Foundation as a memorial to his second wife, transferring his personal holding in M&G Group plc to the trust.
[16] In 1920 he was runner up in Silver Goblets at Henley Royal Regatta in a coxless pair with Bruce Logan.
[20] After the First World War, Fairbairn worked at the London Stock Exchange and in Paris for several years.
[4] Fairbairn 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.