J Griffyth Fairfax

J Griffyth Fairfax - The Horns of Taurus

James Griffyth Fairfax was born on 15th July 1886 in Sydney, Australia.

Fairfax, a great-grandson of the Australian newspaper tycoon John Fairfax, was educated in England at Winchester School and then New College, Oxford.

His first volume of poetry, 'The Gates of Sleep & Other Poems', was published in 1906. He was an active member of literary circles and especially of poets such as Ezra Pound, who each went on to influence the other.

Fairfax joined the British Army and served in the 15th Indian Division for the entirety of the Great War, and reached the rank of Captain.

As well as being known as a translator Fairfax occasionally still published volumes of poetry; 'The Horns of Tarus' (1914), 'The Temple of Janus' (1917) and 'Mesopotamia: Sonnets and Lyrics at Home and Abroad' (1919).

Fairfax was elected for the Conservative and Unionist party to the House of Commons in the 1924 election representing the borough constituency of Norwich until the 1929 election.

James Griffyth Fairfax died at the age of 89 in France on 27th January 1976.