Thomas Fairfax
The Lord Fairfax of Cameron | |
---|---|
Nickname(s) | Black Tom Rider of the White Horse |
Born | Denton Hall, Denton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | 17 January 1612
Died | 12 November 1671 Nun Appleton, West Riding of Yorkshire, England | (aged 59)
Buried | St James' Church, Bilbrough, Yorkshire |
Allegiance | Kingdom of England Parliament of England |
Service/ | English Army Parliamentarian army |
Rank | Lord General |
Battles/wars | |
Signature |
Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron (17 January 1612 – 12 November 1671), also known as Sir Thomas Fairfax,
Early life
Thomas Fairfax was born at Denton Hall, halfway between Ilkley and Otley in the West Riding of Yorkshire, on 17 January 1612, the eldest son of Ferdinando Fairfax, 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron. (His family title of Lord Fairfax of Cameron was in the peerage of Scotland, then still independent from England, which was why he was able to sit in the English House of Commons after he inherited it.) His dark hair, eyes and swarthy complexion would earn him the nickname "Black Tom".[2][3]
Fairfax studied at
Pre-Civil War events
The Fairfaxes, father and son, though serving at first under King
Civil War
When the civil war began in 1642, his father, Lord Fairfax, was appointed general of the Parliamentary forces in the north, and Sir Thomas was then made lieutenant-general of the horse under him. Both father and son distinguished themselves in the Yorkshire campaigns.[a][6]
In 1643, a minor battle between
Sometimes severely defeated, but more often successful, and always energetic, prudent and resourceful, father and son contrived to keep up the struggle until the crisis of 1644, when York was held by the
In the West, South and South West of England, however, the Royalist cause remained strong. The war had lasted two years, and the nation began to complain of the contributions that were exacted of and the excesses that were committed by the military. Dissatisfaction was expressed with the military commanders and, as a preliminary step to reform, the
Fairfax arrived in
With the collapse of the Royalist cause came a confused period of negotiations between the Parliament and the King, between the King and the Scots, and between the
Fairfax was more at home in the field than at the head of a political committee, and, finding events too strong for him and that his officers were rallying around the more radical and politically shrewd Cromwell, he sought to resign his commission as commander-in-chief. He was, however, persuaded to retain it. He thus remained the titular chief of the army party, and with the greater part of its objects he was in complete, sometimes most active, sympathy. Shortly before the outbreak of the
John Milton, in a sonnet written during the siege of Colchester, called upon the Lord General to settle the kingdom, but the crisis was now at hand. Fairfax was in agreement with Cromwell and the army leaders in demanding the punishment of Charles, and he was still the effective head of the army. He approved, if he did not take an active part in, Pride's Purge (6 December 1648), but on the last and gravest of the questions at issue he set himself in deliberate and open opposition to the policy of the officers. He was placed at the head of the judges who were to try the King, and attended the preliminary sitting of the court, but absented himself after this. The most likely explanation is that when he saw that they were serious about intending to execute the king he declined to have anything to do with this.[9]
In calling over the court, when the crier pronounced the name of Fairfax, it is said that his wife,
Fairfax's last service as Commander-in-chief was the suppression of the
Interregnum
During the
Restoration
For the last time Fairfax's appearance in arms helped to shape the future of the country, when
Later life
The remaining eleven years of the life of Lord Fairfax were spent in retirement at his seat in Yorkshire. His wife died in 1665[10] and Fairfax died at Nun Appleton Priory in 1671. He was buried at St James' Church, Bilbrough, near York.[5]
Bibliography
Fairfax had a taste for
The metaphysical poet Andrew Marvell wrote "Upon Appleton House, To My Lord Fairfax", nominally about Fairfax's home, but also his character as well as England during his era.[14]
Family
Fairfax married Hon. Anne de Vere, daughter of Horace Vere, 1st Baron Vere of Tilbury and Mary Tracy, on 20 June 1637. They had a daughter, Hon. Mary Fairfax (30 July 1638 – 20 October 1704),[15] who married George Villiers, 2nd Duke of Buckingham.[5]
Fairfax was succeeded as Lord Fairfax by a cousin, Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron.[16]
Analysis
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",[17] 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, who was politically talented and able to manipulate public antipathy against Charles to lead to his execution, something Fairfax never wanted.[5]
In fiction
Fairfax, played by actor Dougray Scott, is a pivotal character in the 2003 film To Kill a King,[18] as well as in Rosemary Sutcliff's 1953 historical fiction Simon, being portrayed as inspiring and fair.[19] He also appears as a central character in Sutcliff's 1959 novel The Rider of the White Horse, which gives an account of the early stage of the Civil War from the point of view of his wife,[a] and in Howard Brenton's 2012 play 55 Days.[20] Douglas Wilmer portrayed him in the 1970 Ken Hughes film Cromwell.[21]
He was played by Jerome Willis in the 1975 historical film Winstanley.[22] He appears in Michael Arnold's novel Marston Moor, which includes an account of Fairfax's adventures in the eponymous battle.[23] He was also a central character, played by Nigel Anthony, in the 1988 BBC Radio production of Don Taylor's play God's Revolution.[24]
Notes
- ^ a b In the winter of 1642/43 Parliamentary victories were few and far between. One of the more notable was the capture of Leeds on 23 January 1643 by Parliamentary forces under the command of Sir Thomas Fairfax. The London news broadsheets published the exploits and one of them suggested that Fairfax was "the Rider of the White Horse", the allegory was immediately clear to those of a Puritan leaning as it was a passage in the Book of Revelation 19:11 "And I saw heaven opened, and behold a white horse; and he that sat upon him was called Faithful and True, and in righteousness he doth judge and make war", and hence implying to the Puritan supporters of Parliament that Fairfax was a hero doing God's work. (Hopper 2007, p. 174)
Citations
- ^ a b Plant 2005, Sir Thomas, Lord Fairfax 1612–1671.
- ^ Cotterill 2004, p. 110 footnote 22, cites Gibbs 1938, p. 4
- ^ Hall, George (2022). "Thomas Fairfax: The Forgotten Leader". The Cromwell Museum. Archived from the original on 16 January 2024. Retrieved 16 January 2024.
- ^ "Fairfax, Thomas (FRFS626T)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge.
- ^ a b c d e f g h Chisholm 1911, p. 131.
- ^ a b c d e f Chisholm 1911, p. 130.
- ISBN 1844150763. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
Sir Thomas Fairfax summed up the Battle of Seacroft Moor as 'the greatest loss we ever received'.
- ^ Hutchinson, A. (11 June 2019). "A - Z of Leeds". Yorkshire Evening Post. Retrieved 3 August 2019.
B is for Beechwood - Ancestral home of a Leeds dynasty which has links to Kate Middleton and Sir Thomas Fairfax, who helped win English Civil War for Oliver Cromwell. Today the mansion is used as offices but it was once the family home of the Luptons.
- ^ a b Wedgewood, C. V. The Trial of Charles I
- ^ doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/66848. (Subscription or UK public library membershiprequired.)
- ^ a b c d Helms & Cruickshanks 1983
- ^ Fairfax & Reed 1909.
- ^ Firth 1889, p. 149.
- ^ Marvell, Andrew. "Upon Appleton House, to my Lord Fairfax". Luminarium. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^ Mosley 2003, p. 1373
- ^ "Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Of Cameron". Harrison Genealogy Repository. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^ Chisholm 1911, p. 131 quotes Whitelocke
- ^ "To Kill A King". British Council. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ "Books by Rosemary Sutcliff". Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^ "55 Days". Retrieved 6 August 2017.
- ^ "Douglas Wilmer". The Sherlock Holmes Society. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ^ "Jerome Willis obituary". The Guardian. 26 January 2014. Retrieved 22 February 2024.
- ISBN 978-1848547643.
- ^ "God's Revolution". BBC. Retrieved 6 August 2017.
References
- Cotterill, Anne (2004), Digressive voices in early modern English literature, Oxford University Press, p. 110, ISBN 978-0-19-926117-8cites
- Fairfax, Thomas; Reed, Edward Bliss (1909), The poems of Thomas, third lord Fairfax from Ms. Fairfax 40 in the Bodleian library, Oxford, New Haven, Conn.: Pub. under the auspices of Yale university
- Gibbs, M. A. (1938), The Lord General: A life of Thomas Fairfax, Drummond, p. 4
- Helms, M. W.; Cruickshanks, Eveline (1983), "Fairfax, Thomas, 3rd Lord Fairfax of Cameron [S] (1612–71), of Nun Appleton, Yorks.", in Henning, B. D. (ed.), The History of Parliament: the House of Commons 1660–1690, Boydell and Brewer
- Hopper, Andrew (2007), Black Tom: Sir Thomas Fairfax and the English Revolution (illustrated ed.), Manchester University Press, pp. 174, ISBN 9780719071096
- Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003), Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, vol. 1 (107th ed.), Wilmington, Delaware, U.S.A.: Burke's Peerage, p. 1373
- Plant, David (21 June 2005), Sir Thomas, Lord Fairfax 1612–1671, british-civil-wars.co.uk, archived from the original on 3 February 2020, retrieved 17 May 2011.[better source needed]
Attribution:
- This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Firth, Charles Harding (1889). "Fairfax, Thomas (1612-1671)". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 18. London: Smith, Elder & Co. pp. 141–149.
- public domain: Chisholm, Hugh, ed. (1911). "Fairfax of Cameron, Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron". Encyclopædia Britannica. Vol. 10 (11th ed.). Cambridge University Press. pp. 130–131. This article incorporates text from a publication now in the