Henry Fairfax (academic)
Henry Fairfax (1588–1665), was an English priest and academic.
Early life
He was born in 1588 at
Clerical career
He gave up his fellowship on accepting the living of Newton Kyme, Yorkshire, from his father. This preferment he exchanged for a few years for the parish of Ashton-in-Makerfield in Lancashire, returning at the end of that time to Newton Kyme. He married (second wife) Mary, daughter of Sir Henry Cholmley of Whitby, and his rectory at Newton was during the civil wars ‘a refuge and a sanctuary to all their friends and relations on both sides’ (Fairfax MSS.)
Fairfax took an active part in the unsuccessful movement, about 1640, to obtain the foundation of a university for the north. Petitions were sent up to parliament urging the necessity of such a seat of learning. York and Manchester competed warmly for the honour of receiving it. Fairfax wrote to his brother
Fairfax was an admirable parish priest, and something of an antiquarian and genealogist. His learned brother, Charles, the author of Analecta Fairfaxiana, frequently quotes from his notes on antiquarian and family subjects, and evidently held his learning in the highest respect. None of his works now survive, except some anagrams and epigrams in Analecta Fairfaxiana.
He died at Oglethorpe on 6 April 1665 and was buried in the choir of Bolton Percy Church by the side of Mary, his wife, who had died in 1650. His eldest son Henry succeeded a cousin as fourth Lord Fairfax in 1671. His second son was the diplomat Brian Fairfax.
References
This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: "Fairfax, Henry (1588–1665)". Dictionary of National Biography. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885–1900.