Dr Fairbairn Memorial Tablet, Mansfield College, Oxford

Dr Andrew Martin Fairbairn was a prominent Congregationalist minister, and the first principal of Mansfield College in Oxford. After his death in 1912, Swarbrick was invited to design a memorial tablet for him to be placed on the back of the seat he used to occupy in the College Chapel. A special service held on 13 June 1913 to dedicate the memorial was conducted by the Rev J F Shepherd, minister of Withington Congregational Church, who had been a student of Fairbairn’s and was then President of the Old Mansfield Men’s Union. Swarbrick had previously carried out alterations to the Withington church, including the design of the Eadie Memorial Pulpit, so was no doubt recommended by Shepherd as the person to design the tablet.- Richard Fletcher