Sir Charles Fairfax (c. 1567 – 17 September 1604) was an English soldier. Fairfax was the fourth son of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton and Nun Appleton in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a Historic counties of England, historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other Eng ...

, and brother of

Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron MP (1560 – 2 May 1640) was an English nobleman, soldier, diplomat, and politician, his title being in the Peerage of Scotland. Life Fairfax was the eldest son of Sir Thomas Fairfax of Denton, Yo ...

. He was born in or about 1567, and when very young he went with his brother to serve under

Sir Francis Vere Sir Francis Vere (1560/6128 August 1609) was a prominent English soldier serving under Queen Elizabeth I fighting mainly in the Low Countries during the Anglo-Spanish War (1585–1604) and the Eighty Years' War. He was a sergeant major-general ...

in the

Low Countries The term Low Countries, also known as the Low Lands ( nl, de Lage Landen, french: les Pays-Bas, lb, déi Niddereg Lännereien) and historically called the Netherlands ( nl, de Nederlanden), Flanders, or Belgica, is a coastal lowland region in N ...

. Fairfax became a distinguished commander. At the battle of Nieuwport he rallied the English companies at a critical moment, and he was one of the defenders during the

siege of Ostend The siege of Ostend was a three-year siege of the city of Ostend during the Eighty Years' War and the Anglo–Spanish War. A Spanish force under Archduke Albrecht besieged the fortress being held initially by a Dutch force which was reinforc ...

. By desire of Francis Vere he went to the camp of the Archduke Albert as a hostage, and he fought in the breach when the Spanish forces assaulted the works in December 1601. In May 1604 he was at the siege of Sluis, commanding troops which routed the Spanish general Luis de Velasco in the battle of Oostberg line. According to Dutch military historians

François de Bas François de Bas (10 September 1840 – 22 February 1931) was a Dutch general and military historian. He almost single-handedly founded the military-history section of the Dutch General Staff. He co-authored major historical works on the Dutch ...

and F.J.G. Ten Raa, Fairfax later became commander of the English companies still fighting at Ostend. He landed there on 7 June with five companies of reinforcements, but was killed in the last stages of fighting on 17 September, only three days before the general surrender of the stronghold.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Fairfax, Charles 1560s births 1604 deaths 16th-century English soldiers 17th-century English soldiers Military personnel from Yorkshire People from the Borough of Harrogate English military personnel killed in action Expatriates of the Kingdom of England in the Dutch Republic