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Dromo's Den
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[Up] [Dromo's Den] Sir Thomas Fairfax Biography FAIRFAX, THOMAS, third LORD. FAIRFAX, (1612-71). An English Parliamentary general, better known as Sir Thomas Fairfax. The son of Sir Ferdinando (afterward second Lord) Fairfax, he was born at Denton, Yorkshire, Jan. 17, 1612. After receiving his education at St. John's College, Cambridge, he served as a volunteer in Holland under Lord Vere of Tilbury, whose daughter Anne he married shortly after his return to England. Although he was knighted in 1640 by Charles I, he declared for the Parliamentary cause and was appointed cavalry general under his father, who commanded the northern Parliamentary forces. He distinguished himself at Marston Moor, July 2, 1644. On the resignation of the Earl of Essex he was appointed commander general of the Parliamentary forces, with Cromwell as lieutenant general. On June 14, 1645, Fairfax, seconded by Cromwell and Ireton, gained a great victory at Naseby. Fairfax was chosen head of the commission which was appointed to try the King, but on discovering that that body was resolved on the execution of the King he refused to serve. He refused, too, to march against the Scots, who had proclaimed Charles II King, and Cromwell succeeded him as commander in chief. Fairfax retired into private life with a pension of £5000 and devoted his leisure to literary pursuits. After Cromwell's death he represented Yorkshire in Richard Cromwell's first Parliament. He was leader of the delegates appointed to confer with Charles II at The Hague. He spent his last years in retirement at Bilburgh, near York, where he died, Feb. 12, 1671. Short Memorials of Thomas, Lord Fairfax (1699), a record of the Civil War, is the most important of his writings, which included theological, poetical, and other compositions. Consult The Fairfax Correspondence (4 vols., London, 1848-49), and Markham, The Great Lord Fairfax (ib., 1870). The New International Encyclopaedia, Vol. VIII (New York: Dodd, Mead & Co., 1920) 337-338. |