William Fairfax (1609-1644), by Samuel Cooper

Sir William Fairfax (1609–1644), was an officer in the Parliamentary army during the

English Civil War The English Civil War (1642–1651) was a series of civil wars and political machinations between Parliamentarians (" Roundheads") and Royalists led by Charles I ("Cavaliers"), mainly over the manner of England's governance and issues of re ...

Biography

Fairfax was the second son of Sir

Philip Fairfax Philip, also Phillip, is a male given name, derived from the Greek (''Philippos'', lit. "horse-loving" or "fond of horses"), from a compound of (''philos'', "dear", "loved", "loving") and (''hippos'', "horse"). Prominent Philips who popularize ...

of Steeton and Frances Sheffield. Fairfax was knighted by

Charles I Charles I may refer to: Kings and emperors * Charlemagne (742–814), numbered Charles I in the lists of Holy Roman Emperors and French kings * Charles I of Anjou (1226–1285), also king of Albania, Jerusalem, Naples and Sicily * Charles I of ...

Whitehall Whitehall is a road and area in the City of Westminster, Central London. The road forms the first part of the A roads in Zone 3 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, A3212 road from Trafalgar Square to Chelsea, London, Chelsea. It is the main ...

on 1 June 1630. In 1636, he succeeded to the family estates at Steeton and

Newton Kyme Newton Kyme is a village in the civil parish of Newton Kyme cum Toulston near the River Wharfe, in the Selby (district), Selby district, in the English county of North Yorkshire. The population of the civil parish at the 2011 Census for England ...

. In 1642, he took the side of the parliament, and signed the Yorkshire petition of 12 May 1642, beseeching the king to trust to parliament and dismiss his guards. He was given the command of a regiment in the army of Essex, which was stationed on the left wing at the

Battle of Edgehill The Battle of Edgehill (or Edge Hill) was a pitched battle of the First English Civil War. It was fought near Edge Hill and Kineton in southern Warwickshire on Sunday, 23 October 1642. All attempts at constitutional compromise between K ...

and ran away. Fairfax then joined his uncle, Ferdinando, Lord Fairfax, in Yorkshire, and took part in the capture of Leeds (23 January 1643) and Wakefield (21 May 1643). In a letter to his wife he says of himself and his cousin, Sir

Thomas Fairfax Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 161212 November 1671), also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax, was an English politician, general and Parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. An adept and talented command ...

: ''"For Thomas's part and mine we rest neither night nor day nor will willingly till we have done God some good service against His and our enemies"''. In the victory at Nantwich (25 January 1644) Sir William Fairfax commanded a wing of the horse, and at

Marston Moor The Battle of Marston Moor was fought on 2 July 1644, during the Wars of the Three Kingdoms of 1639 – 1653. The combined forces of the English Parliamentarians under Lord Fairfax and the Earl of Manchester and the Scottish Covenanters unde ...

headed a brigade of foot on the right of the parliamentary line. In August 1644 he was despatched into Lancashire with two thousand Yorkshire horse, and took part in the siege of Liverpool. In the Relief of Montgomery Castle on 18 September 1644 he was mortally wounded, and died the following day.

John Vicars John Vicars (1582, London – 12 April 1652, Christ's Hospital, Greyfriars, London) was an English contemporary biographer, poet and polemicist of the English Civil War. His best-known work is ''English Worthies'' or ''England's Worthies'', whose ...

, who gives a detailed account of the death of Fairfax, states that he had fifteen wounds, and adds that his widow said "that she grieved not that he died in this cause, but that he died so soon to do no more for it".

Family

In 1629 William Fairfax married Frances, daughter of Sir Thomas Chaloner of Guisborough in Cleveland, and sister of

James James is a common English language surname and given name: *James (name), the typically masculine first name James * James (surname), various people with the last name James James or James City may also refer to: People * King James (disambiguat ...

and Thomas Chaloner, the regicides. Parliament voted £1,500 for the widow and children, and on 7 September 1655 the council of state voted them £2,000 more in lieu of arrears of pay due to their father. He was the father of General Thomas Fairfax 1633–1712, William 1630-73 (whose son was Robert Fairfax), Catherine b1634 and Isabella Fairfax (1635-1691) who married Nathaniel Bladen.Early Yorkshire Bladens: Nathaniel Bladen - A Biography by Karen Proudler

Notes

References

* Endnotes: **Markham's ''Life of Admiral Robert Fairfax'', 1885 (contains five letters by Sir William Fairfax); **''Fairfax Correspondence'', ed. Johnson (1848) and Bell (1849). {{DEFAULTSORT:Fairfax, William 1609 births 1644 deaths English soldiers English knights Roundheads Alumni of St John's College, Cambridge