John Fairfax-Blakeborough

Major John "Jack" Fairfax-Blakeborough OBE MC (16 January 1883 – 1 January 1976) was an English writer, historian, and folklorist.[1]

Early life

Fairfax-Blakeborough was born in Guisborough,[1] the second of two children born to his parents.[2] His father, Richard Blakeborough, was a folklorist and dialectologist from Ripon, and a close friend of John Christopher Atkinson.[2][3] Through his mother, Margaret Blakeborough, Fairfax-Blakeborough was a relative of the Bulmer family.[4] His elder brother, Derrick, died in July 1899.[2]

At a young age, Fairfax-Blakeborough developed an interest in hunting and horse racing.[5] Upon completing school at the age of sixteen, he began working for a broker, but soon decided he wished to pursue a career in writing instead.[5]

Early career

Fairfax-Blakeborough left his position at the broker's office after three months to write for the Middlesbrough Evening Telegraph (today Teeeside Live).[5][6] In 1904, aged twenty-one, he left regular employment by the paper to become a freelance writer, specialising in articles about equestrian and country sports.[5] He began a column focusing on rural miscellany in 1907 for the Whitby Gazette.[7]

His father disapproved of the decision, fearing that Fairfax-Blakeborough would struggle to make a living through writing.[7] Indeed, shortly after Fairfax-Blakeborough began writing for the Gazette, debts came due and he was forced to ask the editor, Fred Horne, for an advance.[8] Horne agreed, and Fairfax-Blakeborough would later credit this gesture by Horne for his long service and loyalty to the newspaper.[8]

While writing for the Whitby Gazette, Fairfax-Blakeborough began working at the Hambleton racing stables near Sutton Bank, with the intention of developing enough experience to open his own stables in Middleham.[1] He worked there for three years, beginning in 1911; his career plans were interrupted by the 1914 outbreak of the First World War.[1][5][6]

Military service

Fairfax-Blakeborough quickly enlisted to fight for the United Kingdom.[6] By this time, his father had come to support his writing career, going so far as to submit columns on Fairfax-Blakeborough's behalf while he was at war.[8] Identified as a strong horse rider, Fairfax-Blakeborough served as a horsemaster and finished the conflict as a Major as part of the 15th The King's Hussars.[1][6]

Stationed in France for much of the conflict,[1] he was awarded the Military Cross for gallantry during the German spring offensive of 1918.[5][8] He had also been present at the 1917 Battles of Vimy Ridge and Arras.[1]

Return to writing

Following the war, Fairfax-Blakeborough resumed his writing career.[5] He launched a column entitled "Countryman's Diary" for the Darlington & Stockton Times in September 1922, which also ran until his death.[7][9] In addition, he wrote periodically for Yorkshire Life magazine,[5] and was a regular contributor to Autocar magazine.[10] Fairfax-Blakeborough also continued his father's work in documenting or investigating Yorkshire folklore, such as a 1922 investigation into the historicity of Peg Fyfe.[11] Richard Blakeborough had also been a researcher of linguistics; in 1929, Fairfax-Blakeborough assisted Alfred Pease in crafting a dictionary of the North Yorkshire dialect.[12]

Outside of journalism, he authored 112 books on the history of horse racing, Yorkshire folklore and the Cleveland Bay horse,[5][13] writing 13 racing novels in 1930 alone.[6] His wife, Doris, illustrated some of his publications.[14][15] Among the best known of his works are Yorkshire Days and Yorkshire Ways (1935) and The Spirit of Yorkshire (1954), the latter of which was written with his son Richard.[5] Of his many publications, Fairfax-Blakeborough considered his 1936 book, Letters from a Yeoman to His Son in Society, to be his "best," while acknowledging it was among his publications to sell the least.[6]

Fairfax-Blakeborough's long-running column, "Countryman's Diary," inspired writer Peter Walker, who went on to publish the series of novels that inspired long-running television series Heartbeat.[9] Walker had known Fairfax-Blakeborough since Walker was a child, as they attended the same church in Lealholm.[9][16]

Alongside his writing career, Fairfax-Blakeborough also served as a racing judge at Sedgefield Racecourse, and took the position of secretary of the Cleveland Bay Horse Society, a post he held for twenty years.[5][6] He owned, rode and raced his own horses.[5] Upon retiring from his position as a racing official in 1962, after sixty years in the industry, Fairfax-Blakeborough was presented with a solid silver model of a racehorse by Thomas Dugdale, 1st Baron Crathorne, then Senior Steward of the Jockey Club.[5][6]

Personal life and death

In the 1940s, Fairfax-Blakeborough moved into a property, Low House, in Westerdale near Whitby, where he would remain for the rest of his life.[6][8] He hunted frequently until the age of 86.[6][8]

On 1 January 1976, Fairfax-Blakeborough died at his home, survived by his wife Doris and their son, Noel.[6][17][18] His final Whitby Gazette column was published posthumously on 3 January 1976.[7] The column was assumed by Peter Walker, under the pseudonym Nicholas Rhea, on the 10th, which Walker continued for 41 years until his own death in 2017.[9] Walker's daughter, Sarah Walker, then took up the mantle, altering the title to "Countryman's Daughter."[9] She continues to publish the column as of 2025.[19]

References

  1. ^ a b c d e f g Mead, Harry (30 January 2015). "Knee deep in battlefield filth, the Major and his horses". Darlington and Stockton Times. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  2. ^ a b c University of Sheffield Archives. "Blakeborough, Richard, 1850 - 1918". archives.shef.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  3. ^ García-Bermejo Giner, María F. (2021). "Richard Blakeborough (1850-1918)". Salamanca Corpus – via University of Salamanca.
  4. ^ "Mrs. Margaret Blakeborough". Whitby Gazette. 1 November 1991. p. 8.
  5. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m University of Sheffield Archives. "Fairfax-Blakeborough, John, 1883 - 1976". archives.shef.ac.uk. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  6. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Sporting Major died 'in the saddle'". Ripon Gazette. 9 January 1976. p. 14.
  7. ^ a b c d Barker, Malcolm (8 February 2001). "Man of the Moors". Yorkshire Post and Leeds Intelligencer. p. 14.
  8. ^ a b c d e f Barker, Malcolm (27 April 2004). "Bible of the Dales written from 'wolf-infested moor'" (PDF). Whitby Gazette. Archived from the original (PDF) on 12 January 2014.
  9. ^ a b c d e Walker, Sarah (2 October 2022). "100 years of a country column in the D&S Times". Darlington and Stockton Times. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  10. ^ Grace's Guide (20 June 2025). "1914 (Part 1) The Autocar: Index". gracesguide.
  11. ^ Blakeborough, J. Fairfax (14 October 1922). "Some Famous Cleveland Witches". The Northern Weekly Gazette. p. 13 – via British Newspaper Archive.
  12. ^ Rhea, N. (21 June 2002). "If it's not winter, it's backendish". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  13. ^ "Following in the footsteps of J F-B". The Northern Echo. 9 January 2004. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  14. ^ "Best authors... for the discriminating modern buyer". The Bookseller. 4 September 1935. p. 8.
  15. ^ "Short notices". The Month. Vol. 166 (1st ed.). Roehampton: The Month. 1 October 1935. pp. 381–382.
  16. ^ Rhea, Nicholas (9 January 2004). "Following in the footsteps of J F-B". The Northern Echo. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  17. ^ Templeman, Norma (9 October 1992). "Remember Lizzie Leckonby?". Whitby Gazette. p. 2.
  18. ^ "Noel Fairfax Blakeborough - Death". Worcester News. 11 December 2018. Retrieved 27 December 2025.
  19. ^ Walker, Sarah (4 August 2017). "The Countryman's Daughter". The Countryman's Daughter. Retrieved 27 December 2025.

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