William E. Fairbairn
British police officer and close-combat instructor, creator of the Defendu system, trainer of Allied commandos and co-designer of the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife.
Quick Facts
ChinaBiography
William E. Fairbairn was born on 28 February 1885 in Rickmansworth, Hertfordshire. He is known as the creator of the Defendu combat system and as an instructor of close combat.
From 1901 he served with the Royal Marines, and in 1907 he joined the Shanghai Municipal Police, in which he served for about 20 years. He took part in hundreds of street clashes, created and commanded a riot police unit. He studied boxing, wrestling, savate, jujutsu, judo, in which he attained 2nd dan, and Chinese martial arts; from his own experience he then put together the Defendu system.
In 1940 he retired with the rank of Assistant Commissioner. On 15 July 1940, together with Eric Sykes, he was commissioned as a lieutenant and recruited into the Special Operations Executive, where he was nicknamed "Dangerous Dan"; by the end of the war he had reached the rank of lieutenant colonel. He trained British, American and Canadian commandos, the US Rangers and OSS personnel; his students included Rex Applegate. He co-designed the Fairbairn-Sykes fighting knife and the Smatchet blade. At the request of OSS founder William J. Donovan he received the American Legion of Merit.
He published the books Defendu (1926), Scientific Self-Defence (1931), All-In Fighting (1942), Get Tough (1942), Self Defence for Women and Girls (1942), and, with Sykes, Shooting to Live (1942). Uncredited, he appeared in the training film Unarmed Combat (1941) narrated by David Niven, and in 1942 in an OSS training film directed by John Ford. He died on 20 June 1960 in Worthing, Sussex.