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Harold Fairburn, CMG, KPM, (1884-1973) was the Inspector-General of Police of the Straits Settlements Police in Singapore from 1925 to 1935.

The son of a schoolmaster in the UK, he joined the Straits Settlements Police as a cadet and was the first to be made an Inspector General, succeeding G C Denham in 1925. During his time as head of the police, Singapore was undergoing a period of great expansion and the 1930s saw a significant increase in criminal activity. With a growing need to develop the capacity of the force, he oversaw the construction of many new police stations and officer's barracks. Many of these neoclassical buildings were the largest in Singapore at the time of their construction.

He is recognised as having worked towards improving the salaries and working conditions of serving officers. In the years following World War I, rising inflation levels had significantly reduced police officers' wages and debt levels were increasing. In 1926, he became the president and advisor of the Singapore Police Cooperative Thrift and Loan Society, which gave officers their own collective credit scheme and also helped them to manage savings.

Following ten years of service he retired and returned to the UK to live in Hampshire, handing his position over to René Onraet in 1935. Fairburn Channel is a shipping lane through the Singapore Southern Islands that was named after him.