LIEUTENANT (SELF-STYLED “CAPTAIN” AND “MAJOR”) THOMAS DUNCAN BAIRNSFATHER, ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT AND LATER, DURING WW2, FLYING OFFICER (FLIGHT LIEUTENANT), ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE, ADMINISTRATIVE AND TECHNICAL BRANCH.
£225.00
LIEUTENANT (SELF-STYLED “CAPTAIN” AND “MAJOR”) THOMAS DUNCAN BAIRNSFATHER, ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT AND LATER, DURING WW2, FLYING OFFICER (FLIGHT LIEUTENANT), ROYAL AUSTRALIAN AIR FORCE, ADMINISTRATIVE AND TECHNICAL BRANCH. TOM BAIRNSFATHER WAS THE BROTHER OF THE CELEBRATED WW1 HUMOURIST AND CARTOONIST CAPTAIN CHARLES “BRUCE” BAIRNSFATHER, WHO ALSO SAW SERVICE WITH THE ROYAL WARWICKSHIRE REGIMENT DURING WW1. India General Service Medal 1908-35, George V, Calcutta Mint issue, 1 clasp, North West Frontier 1919 (renamed, contemporary engraved naming in plain block capitals: CAPt. T.D. BAIRNSFATHER R WAR. REGt.). Almost Extremely Fine to Extremely Fine.
Medal sold with a small file of copied research.
Tom Bairnsfather, although good-looking, charming and clever, was also, unfortunately, a lifelong rogue, fraudster and bigamist. His shortcomings first came to light when he was forced to resign his commission in October 1921, having been caught bouncing cheques and fiddling mess funds in order to finance his gambling, drinking and womanising. Throughout the remainder of his life, Tom Bairnsfather was involved in a series of self-aggrandising schemes and fraudelent activities, repeatedly traded on his connection with his more famous, highly regarded, brother.
Born 16/10/1896 in the Punjab, India, Tom Bairnsfather was the son of Major Thomas Henry and Ameila Jane Bairnsfather. He was educated at King Edward VI School, Stratford and Oundle Public School in Northamptonshire and graduated from the Royal Military College, Sandhurst, from where he was commissioned 2nd Lieutenant, Royal Warwickshire Regiment, 16/8/1916.
Tom Bairsnfather is recorded in the 1901 census as a 3 year old child resident in Abbotsham, Devon, with his parents and elder brother “Bruce”. He is recorded in the 1911 census as a 13 year old schoolboy resident at Oundle Public School (in the same census his parents and his brother “Bruce” are recorded as being resident in Stratford-on-Avon).
Tom Bairnsfather first saw service during WW1 in France, entering that theatre of operations on 5/2/1917, and subsequently in Italy and India. He was appointed ADC to Lieutenant General Sir Richard Haking, 30/3/1917, promoted Lieutenant, 16/2/1918 and subsequently served in Kashmir as ADC to Major General Sir George Barrow.
Tom Bairnsfather had a distinguished record during WW1, mentioned in dispatches, awarded British War and Victory Medals and the Order of the Crown of Italy, Cavalier (London Gazette 12/9/1918). However, he was court martialed in India in 1920 for bouncing cheques and embezzling mess funds, resigned his commission in 1921 and was declared bankrupt in 1922.
Thomas Duncan Bairnsfather was thrice married, firstly to Eleanor Tipping in India in 1920. The couple divorced in 1927. By this stage, Bairnsfather’s underhand activities had become so notorious that he was finding it difficult to operate, and in order to escape the cloud hanging over him, he decided to emigrate to Australia. In 1928, whilst en-route for Australia via South Africa, he proposed to a lady called Cathleen Farmer. When he failed to carry through with his marriage proposal, she sued him and was awarded £750 for breach of promise. Bairnsfather married, secondly, Lorna Wood, in Melbourne, Australia, in 1928. By 1931 he was living in Flinders, Victoria, in a house which, once again trading off his brother’s reputation, he named “The Better ‘Ole”, after one of Bruce Bairnsfather’s famous series of cartoons. Following the outbreak of WW2 Bairnsfather was called up in May 1941, saw service with the Administrative and Technical Section, Royal Australian Air Force, and was commissioned Flying Officer (Flight Lieutenant), 29/1/1942. He married for a third time, Addie Reid, in Newcastle, New South Wales, in December 1942, having neglected divorce his second wife. He was tried for bigamy in 1944 and subsequently divorced his second wife, Lorna Wood, in June of that year. His marriage to Addie was also nullified, and he and Addie married again in July 1944. At the time of his trial for bigamy, Tom Bairnsfather, then living at 93 Ocean Street, Woolahra, New South Wales, was a well-known Sydney radio station personality, commentating on wrestling matches and appearing in a radio series as the character “Algy”.
Bairnsfather’s criminal tendencies followed him to Australia. Employed as a hotel manager, he was fired when money went missing from the hotel safe. He was also a serial con artist and a sneak thief, online family reminiscences recording that he regularly stole money from ladies’ handbags. Bairnsfather was court martialled for a second time, in 1942, for bouncing cheques and obtaining money by false pretences whilst serving with the Royal Australian Air Force, and dismissed from the service on 12/11/1943.
Thomas Duncan Bairnsfather died 18/4/1949 in Woolahra, NSW.
In obituary notices he was described as having been the recipient of the Military Cross during WW1. Like many of his other claims, this was a fantasy designed to boost his image, there being no record of his ever having been recommended for, far less awarded, the Military Cross. Additionally, there is no record of Thomas Bairnsfather ever having been promoted to the rank of Captain, another exaggeration (and when he emigrated to Australia in 1828, he gave his rank on the passenger list as that of Major), both latter exaggerations no doubt intended to allow him to use the honorary post-nominal ranks of Captain and Major in civilian life.
In 1922, Bruce Bairnsfather, exasperated by his brother’s attempts to profit from their connection in order to promote events, published the following disclaimer in the press: “Captain Bruce Bairnsfather asks the Daily Express to state that he has no connection with a concert party with which the name of Mr T.D. Bairnsfather is associated,or with any enterprise in which his own name does not appear.”