Dates

• Existence: 1883 - 1976

Biography

Major John Fairfax-Blakeborough (1883-1976), folklorist and writer, was born on January 16th 1883 in Guisborough. After leaving school he spent three months in a broker’s office but his inherited interest in writing led him to join the staff of the Middlesbrough Evening Telegraph (later the Evening Gazette). At twenty-one he became a freelance writer, specialising in country sports and horseracing. From childhood, Fairfax-Blakeborough had been keenly interested in horses, racing and hunting and he gained practical experience of horses in a three year spell at a training stable in Cleveland, in addition to his two days a week of hunting.

During the First World War he served as a Major in the 15th/19th King’s Hussars, being awarded the Military Cross. After the war he became a racing judge at Sedgefield and remained a licensed Turf official until shortly before his death. At the same time, he became secretary of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society, a post he held for twenty years, later becoming the Society’s president. He also owned, rode and raced his own horses.

John Fairfax-Blakeborough was the author of 112 books on the history of horse racing, Yorkshire folklore and the Cleveland Bay (horse), among the best known of which are Yorkshire Days and Yorkshire Ways (1935) and The Spirit of Yorkshire (1954, written with his son Richard Noel John Fairfax-Blakeborough). He also wrote regular columns for the Darlington and Stockton Times (for 54 years) and Yorkshire Life. He died at his home, Low House, Westerdale, Whitby, on January 1st 1976.

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