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| Keywords: lcf223139 thomas 1612-71 161271 3rd lord fairfax oil canvas 99:male 99male portrait stuart parliamentary generalwalker robert 1607-60 160760 circle © trustees leeds castle foundation maidstone kent uk english personalities statesmen political figures great britain men 17th century people indoor Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 1612 – 12 November 1671) was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. Born at Denton Hall, near Otley, Yorkshire, on the 17 January 1612, Fairfax was the eldest son of Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. He studied at St John's College, Cambridge (1626–29),[1] and then proceeded to the Netherlands to serve as a volunteer with the English army in the Low Countries under Sir Horace (Lord) Vere. This connection led to one still closer; in the summer of 1637 Fairfax married Anne Vere, the daughter of the general. The Fairfaxes, father and son, though serving at first under King Charles I (Thomas commanded a troop of horse, and was knighted by the king in 1640), were opposed to the arbitrary prerogative of the Crown, and Sir Thomas declared that "his judgment was for the Parliament as the king and kingdom's great and safest council". When Charles endeavoured to raise a guard for his own person at York, intending it, as the event afterwards proved, to form the nucleus of an army, Fairfax was employed to present a petition to his sovereign, entreating him to hearken to the voice of his parliament, and to discontinue the raising of troops. This was at a great meeting of the freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire convened by the king on Heworth Moor near York. Charles evaded receiving the petition, pressing his horse forward, but Fairfax followed him and placed the petition on the pommel of the king's saddle. As a soldier he was exact and methodical in planning, in the 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 the characteristics of his private and public character. But his modesty and distrust of his 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 peace overshadowed by his associate Cromwell. Fairfax had a taste for literature. He translated some of the Psalms, and wrote poems on solitude, the Christian warfare, the shortness of life, etc. During the last year or two of his life he wrote two Memorials which have been published – one on the northern actions in which he was engaged in 1642-1644, and the other on some events in his tenure of the chief command. At York and at Oxford he endeavoured to save the libraries from pillage, and he enriched the Bodleian with some valuable manuscripts. The metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell authored "Upon Appleton House, To My Lord Fairfax", nominally about Fairfax's home, but also his character as well as England during his era. Lord Fairfax of Cameron's only daughter, Mary Fairfax, was married to George Villiers, the profligate duke of Buckingham of Charles II's court. LCF223139 Thomas (1612-71) 3rd Lord Fairfax (oil on canvas) by Walker, Robert (1607-60) (circle of) oil on canvas 59.7x49.5 © Trustees of Leeds Castle Foundation, Maidstone, Kent, UK English, out of copyright Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 1612 – 12 November 1671) was a general and parliamentary commander-in-chief during the English Civil War. Born at Denton Hall, near Otley, Yorkshire, on the 17 January 1612, Fairfax was the eldest son of Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. He studied at St John's College, Cambridge (1626–29),[1] and then proceeded to the Netherlands to serve as a volunteer with the English army in the Low Countries under Sir Horace (Lord) Vere. This connection led to one still closer; in the summer of 1637 Fairfax married Anne Vere, the daughter of the general. The Fairfaxes, father and son, though serving at first under King Charles I (Thomas commanded a troop of horse, and was knighted by the king in 1640), were opposed to the arbitrary prerogative of the Crown, and Sir Thomas declared that "his judgment was for the Parliament as the king and kingdom's great and safest council". When Charles endeavoured to raise a guard for his own person at York, intending it, as the event afterwards proved, to form the nucleus of an army, Fairfax was employed to present a petition to his sovereign, entreating him to hearken to the voice of his parliament, and to discontinue the raising of troops. This was at a great meeting of the freeholders and farmers of Yorkshire convened by the king on Heworth Moor near York. Charles evaded receiving the petition, pressing his horse forward, but Fairfax followed him and placed the petition on the pommel of the king's saddle. As a soldier he was exact and methodical in planning, in the 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 the characteristics of his private and public character. But his modesty and distrust of his 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 peace overshadowed by his associate Cromwell. Fairfax had a taste for literature. He translated some of the Psalms, and wrote poems on solitude, the Christian warfare, the shortness of life, etc. During the last year or two of his life he wrote two Memorials which have been published – one on the northern actions in which he was engaged in 1642-1644, and the other on some events in his tenure of the chief command. At York and at Oxford he endeavoured to save the libraries from pillage, and he enriched the Bodleian with some valuable manuscripts. The metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell authored "Upon Appleton House, To My Lord Fairfax", nominally about Fairfax's home, but also his character as well as England during his era. Lord Fairfax of Cameron's only daughter, Mary Fairfax, was married to George Villiers, the profligate duke of Buckingham of Charles II's court. LCF223139 Thomas (1612-71) 3rd Lord Fairfax (oil on canvas) by Walker, Robert (1607-60) (circle of) oil on canvas 59.7x49.5 © Trustees of Leeds Castle Foundation, Maidstone, Kent, UK English, out of copyright | ||||
