Online Encyclopedia

Search over 40,000 articles from the original, classic Encyclopedia Britannica, 11th Edition.

FAIRFAX OF CAMERON, THOMAS FAIRFAX, 3...

Online Encyclopedia
Originally appearing in Volume V10, Page 132 of the 1911 Encyclopedia Britannica.
» Make a correction to this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Spread the word: del.icio.us del.icio.us it!

See also:

FAIRFAX OF See also:CAMERON, See also:THOMAS FAIRFAX, 3RD See also:BARON (1612-1671) , See also:parliamentary See also:general and See also:commander-in-See also:chief during the See also:English See also:Civil See also:War, the eldest son of the 2nd See also:lord, was See also:born at See also:Denton, near See also:Otley, See also:Yorkshire, on the 17th of See also:January 1612. He studied at St See also:John's See also:College, See also:Cambridge (1626-1629), and then proceeded to See also:Holland to serve as a volunteer with the English See also:army in the See also:Low Countries under See also:Sir See also:Horace (Lord) See also:Vere. This connexion led to one still closer; in the summer of 1637 Fairfax married See also:Anne Vere, the daughter of the general. The Fairfaxes, See also:father and son, though serving at first under See also:Charles I. (Thomas commanded a See also:troop of See also:horse, and was knighted by the See also:king in 164o), were opposed to the arbitrary See also:prerogative of the See also:crown, and Sir Thomas declared that " his See also:judgment was for the See also:parliament as the king and See also:kingdom's See also:great and safest See also:council." When Charles endeavoured to raise a guard for his own See also:person at See also:York, intending it, as the event afterwards proved, to See also:form the See also:nucleus of an army, Fairfax was employed to See also:present a See also:petition to his See also:sovereign, entreating him to hearken to the See also:voice of his parliament, and to discontinue the raising of troops. This was at a great See also:meeting of the freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire convened by the king on Heworth See also:Moor near York. Charles evaded receiving the petition, pressing his horse forward, but Fairfax followed him and placed the petition on the See also:pommel of the king's See also:saddle. The incident is typical of the times and of the actors in the See also:scene. War See also:broke out, Lord Fairfax was appointed general of the Parliamentary forces in the See also:north,and his son, Sir Thomas, was made See also:lieutenant-general of the horse under him. Both father and son distinguished themselves in the See also:campaigns in Yorkshire (see GREAT See also:REBELLION). Some-times severely defeated, more often successful, and always energetic, prudent and resourceful, they contrived to keep up the struggle until the crisis of 1644, when York was held by the See also:marquess of See also:Newcastle against the combined forces of the English Parliamentarians and the Scots, and See also:Prince See also:Rupert hastened with all available forces to its See also:relief. A gathering of eager See also:national forces within a few square See also:miles of ground naturally led to a See also:battle, and See also:Marston Moor (q.v.) was decisive of the struggle in the north.

The younger Fairfax See also:

bore himself with the greatest gallantry in the battle, and though severely wounded managed to join See also:Cromwell and the victorious See also:cavalry on the other wing. One of his See also:brothers, See also:Colonel Charles Fairfax, was killed in the See also:action. But the marquess of Newcastle fled the kingdom, and the Royalists abandoned all See also:hope of retrieving their affairs. The See also:city of York was taken, and nearly the whole north submitted to the parliament. In the See also:south and See also:west of See also:England, however, the Royalist cause was still active. The war had lasted two years, and the nation began to complain of the contributions that were exacted, and the excesses that were committed by the military. Dissatisfaction was expressed with the military commanders, and, as a preliminary step to reform, the Self-denying See also:Ordinance was passed. This involved the removal of the See also:earl of See also:Essex from the supreme command, and the reconstruction of the armed forces of the parliament. Sir Thomas Fairfax was selected as the new lord general with Cromwell as his lieutenant-general and cavalry commander, and after a See also:short preliminary See also:campaign the " New See also:Model " justified its existence, and " the rebels' new brutish general," as the king called him, his capacity as commander-in-chief in the decisive victory of See also:Naseby (q.v.). The king fled to See also:Wales. Fairfax besieged See also:Leicester, and was successful at See also:Taunton, See also:Bridgwater and See also:Bristol. The whole west was soon reduced.

Fairfax arrived in See also:

London on the 12th of See also:November 1645. In his progress towards the See also:capital he was accompanied by applauding crowds. Complimentary speeches and thanks were presented to him by both houses of parliament, along with a See also:jewel of great value set with diamonds, and a sum of See also:money. The king had returned from Wales and established himself at See also:Oxford, where there was a strong See also:garrison, but, ever vacillating, he withdrew secretly, and proceeded to See also:Newark to throw himself into the arms of the Scots. Oxford capitulated; and by the end of See also:September 1646 Charles had neither army nor garrison in England. In January 1647 he was delivered up by the Scots to the commissioners of parliament. Fairfax met the king beyond See also:Nottingham, and accompanied him during the See also:journey to Holmby, treating him with the utmost See also:consideration in every way. " The general," said Charles, " is a See also:man of See also:honour, and keeps his word which he had pledged to me." With the collapse of the Royalist cause came a confused See also:period of negotiations between the parliament and the king, between the king and the Scots, and between the Presbyterians and the See also:Independents in and out of parliament. In these negotiations the New Model Army soon began to take a most active See also:part. The lord general was placed in the unpleasant position of intermediary between his own See also:officers and parliament. To the grievances, usual in armies of that See also:time, concerning arrears of pay and See also:indemnity for acts committed on See also:duty, there was quickly added the See also:political propaganda of the Independents, and in See also:July the person of the king was seized by Joyce, a subaltern of cavalry—an See also:act which sufficiently demonstrated the hopelessness of controlling the army by its articles of war. It had, in fact, become the most formidable political party in the See also:realm, and pressed straight on to the overthrow of parliament and the See also:punishment' of Charles.

Fairfax was more at See also:

home in the See also:field than at the See also:head of a political See also:committee, and, finding events too strong for him, he sought to resign his See also:commission as commander-in-chief. He was, however, persuaded to retain it. He thus remained the titular chief of the army party, and with the greater part of its See also:objects he was in See also:complete, sometimes most active, sympathy. Shortly before the outbreak of the second Civil War, Fairfax succeeded his father in the See also:barony and in the See also:office of See also:governor of See also:Hull. In the field against the English Royalists in 1648 he displayed his former See also:energy and skill, and his operations culminated in the successful See also:siege of See also:Colchester, after the surrender of which See also:place he approved the See also:execution of the Royalist leaders Sir Charles See also:Lucas and Sir See also:George See also:Lisle, holding that these officers had broken their See also:parole. At the, same time Cromwell's great victory of See also:Preston crushed the Scots, and the Independents became practically all-powerful. See also:Milton, in a See also:sonnet written during the siege of Colchester, called upon the lord general to See also:settle the kingdom, but the crisis was now at See also:hand. Fairfax was in agreement with Cromwell and the army leaders in demanding the punishment of Charles, and he was still the effective head of the army. He approved, if he did not take an active part in, See also:Pride's Purge (See also:December 6th, 1648), but on the last and gravest of the questions at issue he set himself in deliberate and open opposition to the policy of the officers. He was placed at the head of the See also:judges who were to try the king, and attended the preliminary sitting of the See also:court. Then, convinced at last that the king's See also:death was in-tended, he refused to act. In calling over the court, when the crier pronounced the name of Fairfax, a See also:lady in the See also:gallery called out " that the Lord Fairfax was not there in person, that he would never sit among them, and that they did him wrong to name him as a See also:commissioner." This was Lady Fairfax, who could not forbear, as See also:Whitelocke says, to exclaim aloud against the proceedings of the High Court of See also:Justice.

His last service as commander-in-chief was the suppression of the Leveller See also:

mutiny at See also:Burford in May 1649. He had given his See also:adhesion to the new See also:order of things, and had been reappointed lord general. But he merely administered the affairs of the army, and when in 1650 the Scots had declared for Charles II., and the council of See also:state resolved to send an may to See also:Scotland in order to prevent an invasion of England, Fairfax resigned his commission. Cromwell was appointed his successor, " See also:captain-general and commander-in-chief of all the forces raised or to be raised by authority of parliament within the See also:commonwealth of England." Fairfax received a See also:pension of £5000 a See also:year, and lived in retirement at his Yorkshire home of Nunappleton till after the death of the See also:Protector. The troubles of the later Commonwealth recalled Lord Fairfax to political activity, and for the last time his See also:appearance in arms helped to shape the future of the See also:country, when See also:Monk invited him to assist in the operations about to be undertaken against See also:Lambert's army. In December 1659 he appeared at the head of a See also:body of Yorkshire gentlemen, and such was the See also:influence of Fairfax's name and reputation that 1200 horse quitted Lambert's See also:colours and joined him. This was speedily followed by the breaking up of all Lambert's forces, and that See also:day secured the restoration of the See also:monarchy. A " See also:free " parliament was called; Fairfax was elected member for Yorkshire, and was put at the head of the commission appointed by the See also:House of See also:Commons to wait upon Charles II. at the See also:Hague and urge his speedy return. Of course the " merry monarch, scandalous and poor," was glad to obey the See also:summons, and Fairfax provided the horse, on which Charles rode at his See also:coronation. The remaining eleven years of the See also:life of Lord Fairfax were spent in retirement at his seat in Yorkshire. He must, like Milton, have been sorely grieved and shocked by the scenes that followed—the brutal indignities offered to the remains of his companions in arms, Cromwell and See also:Ireton, the See also:sacrifice of Sir Harry See also:Vane, the neglect or desecration of all that was great, See also:noble or graceful in England, and the See also:flood of immorality which, flowing from See also:Whitehall, sapped the See also:foundations of the national strength and honour. Lord Fairfax died at Nunappleton on the 12th, of November 1671, and was buried at Bilborough, near York.

As a soldier he was exact and methodical in planning, in the See also:

heat of battle " so highly transported that scarce any one durst. speak a word to him" (Whitelocke), chivalrous and punctilious in his dealings with his own men and the enemy. Honour and conscientiousness were equally thecharacteristics of his private and public See also:character. But his modesty and distrust of his See also:powers made him less effectual as a statesman than as a soldier, and above all he is placed at a disadvantage by being both in war and See also:peace overshadowed by his See also:associate Cromwell. Lord Fairfax had a See also:taste for literature. He translated some of the See also:Psalms,. and wrote poems on solitude, the See also:Christian war-fare, the shortness of life, &c. During the last year or two of his life he wrote two Memorials which have been published—one on the See also:northern actions in which he was engaged in 1642-1644, and the other on some events in his See also:tenure of the chief command. At York and at Oxford he endeavoured to See also:save the See also:libraries from pillage, and he enriched the Bodleian with some valuable See also:MSS. His only daughter, See also:Mary Fairfax, was married to George See also:Villiers, the profligate See also:duke of See also:Buckingham of Charles II.'s court. His See also:correspondence, edited by G. W. See also:Johnson, was published in 1848–1849 in four volumes (see See also:note thereon in Dict. Nat.

Biogr., s.v.), and a life of him by Clements R. See also:

Markham in 187o. See also S. R. See also:Gardiner, See also:History of the Great Civil War (1893). His descendant Thomas, 6th baron (1692-1782), inherited from his See also:mother, the heiress of Thomas, 2nd Baron Culpepper, large estates in See also:Virginia, U.S.A., and having sold Denton See also:Hall and his Yorkshire estates he retired there about 1746, dying a See also:bachelor. He was a friend of George See also:Washington. Thomas found his See also:cousin See also:William Fairfax settled in Virginia, and' made him his 'See also:agent, and See also:Bryan (1737-1802), the son of William Fairfax, eventually inherited the See also:title, becoming 8th baron in 1793• His claim was admitted by the House of Lords in 'Soo. But it was practically dropped by the See also:American See also:family, until, shortly before the coronation of See also:Edward VII., the successor in title was discovered in See also:Albert See also:Kirby Fairfax (b. 1870), a descendant of the 8th baron, who was an American See also:citizen. In November 1go8 Albert's claim to the title as 12th baron was allowed by the House of Lords.

End of Article: FAIRFAX OF CAMERON, THOMAS FAIRFAX, 3RD BARON (1612-1671)

Additional information and Comments

There are no comments yet for this article.
» Add information or comments to this article.
Please link directly to this article:
Highlight the code below, right click, and select "copy." Then paste it into your website, email, or other HTML.
Site content, images, and layout Copyright © 2006 - Net Industries, worldwide.
Do not copy, download, transfer, or otherwise replicate the site content in whole or in part.

Links to articles and home page are always encouraged.

[back]
FAIRFAX OF CAMERON, FERDINANDO FAIRFAX, 2ND BARON (... 		[next]
FAIRFAX, EDWARD (c. 1580-1635)

Site © 2006 - Net Industries