MB ChB Manch 1923, MD 1928, DSc 1936; MRCP Lond 1933.
Fairbrother was born in Poulton-le-Fylde on 28 April 1902. After qualifying, he held junior positions at MRI and Monsall Hospital for Infectious Diseases, Manchester. In 1927 Fairbrother was awarded the Dickinson Research Travelling Scholarship and studied at St Mary's Hospital, London and the Pasteur Institute, Paris. Fairbrother then gained a Research Fellowship at the Lister Institute which enabled him to complete his MD on cholera. In 1930 Fairbrother was appointed assistant lecturer in bacteriology at the University of Manchester and the next year appointed assistant director of the Public Health Laboratory in Manchester. In 1934 he was appointed lecturer in bacteriology and wrote a best-selling textbook of medical bacteriology, published in 1937. From 1938 until 1961 Fairbrother was director of the Clinical Laboratory at the MRI and was also advisor in pathology to the Regional Hospital Board. He died on 18 April 1969.