Fairfax, Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron

▪ English general

born Jan. 17, 1612, Denton, Yorkshire, Eng.

died Nov. 12, 1671, Nun Appleton, Yorkshire

 commander in chief of the Parliamentary army during the English Civil Wars between the Royalists and Parliamentarians. His tactical skill and personal courage helped bring about many of the Parliamentary victories in northern and southwestern England.

      The son of Ferdinando, 2nd Baron Fairfax of Cameron, he attended the University of Cambridge and from 1629 to 1631 fought with the Dutch against the Spanish. Fairfax participated in the Bishops' Wars (1639 and 1640) against the Scots and was knighted in January 1640. (He succeeded to his father's title in 1648.)

      When the Civil Wars broke out, he and his father joined the Parliamentarian cause, Sir Thomas commanding the cavalry in his native Yorkshire. He occupied Leeds in January 1643 and captured Wakefield in May, but after his defeat at Adwalton Moor (June 30) most of Yorkshire fell to the Royalists. With Oliver Cromwell's assistance, Fairfax counterattacked and secured the north through victories at Winceby, Lincolnshire (October 1643), and Marston Moor, Yorkshire (July 1644). He was seriously wounded in the siege of Helmsley Castle, Yorkshire (September 1644).

      In February 1645 he was appointed commander in chief of the New Model Army. It is Fairfax who deserves much of the credit for organizing and training this effective fighting force. In his decisive victory over Charles I at Naseby, Northamptonshire (June 14, 1645), Sir Thomas displayed his renowned reckless daring. He then marched into the southwest and defeated the only remaining Royalist army at Langport, Somerset (July 1645).

      Fairfax had hoped a limited monarchy could be established, but, when the Royalists again took up arms in 1647, he crushed their forces at Maidstone, Kent, and starved Colchester, Essex, into submission. Fairfax disapproved of the purge of Parliament by his soldiers in December 1648, and he refused to serve on the commission that condemned Charles I to death, an event he sought to prevent. He agreed to become a member of the Council of State of the newly formed Republic.

      In 1650 Fairfax resigned as commander in chief in protest over the proposed invasion of Scotland. He then retired from politics, but in 1657 he quarreled bitterly with his old friend Cromwell, now Lord Protector. After Cromwell's death in September 1658, he helped General George Monck restore Parliamentary rule in the face of opposition from the army. Fairfax was a member of the Parliament that invited Charles I's son to return to England as King Charles II in 1660, but the desecration of Cromwell's remains by Charles II in 1661 incensed him. Thereafter, he took no further part in public affairs.

Additional Reading

John Wilson, Fairfax (1985).

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