Wilfred George Fairhurst was born in Lymm near Warrington in Cheshire, England on 5 April 1885 and baptised in Grappenhall, Cheshire on 19 July 1885. He was the son of George Aaron Fairhurst, a pianoforte dealer, and Sarah Anne Seabridge and had a younger sibling, Gertrude Annie Elizabeth (b. 1887). By 1901 the family lived at 319 Stanley Road, Bootle and a young Wilfred was described as an apprentice mechanical engineer. 

Wilfred was married in Liverpool in 1909 to Bootle-native Margaret Maria Pattison (b. 17 November 1884) and their son, their only child Neville Percival, was born on 10 July 1910; the family appear on the 1911 census as residents of Ravensdal Stuart Road in Great Crosby.  

In April 1912 Fairhurst was serving as 4th Engineer aboard the eastward-bound voyage of the Carpathia when that ship rescued the survivors of the Titanic. 

Following the Titanic disaster Wilfred Fairhurst continued to work at sea; on 7 May 1915 he was 1st Intermediate 3rd Engineer aboard the Lusitania when that ship was torpedoed and sank on its eastbound voyage from New York to Liverpool; he was among the casualties. His last address was stated as 5 Morningside, Great Crosby in his probate report. 

FAIRHURST,1st Inter. 3rd Engr. Wilfred.  S.S.”Lusitania” (Liverpool). Drowned,as a result of an attack by an enemy submarine, 7th May, 1915. Age 31. Son of George Aaron Hairhurst, and Sarah Annie Fairhurst; husband of Margare Maria Fairhurst (née Pattison), of “Ravensdal”, Stuart Rd., Great Crosby, Liverpool. Borrn at Warrington. - UK Commonwealth War Graves