FAIRFAX, ThomAS, third Lord Fa irfax (1612-71). An English Parliamentary general, better known as Sir Thomas Fairfax. The son of Sir Ferdinand° (afterwards second Lord) Fair fax, he was born at Denton, Yorkshire, January 17, 1612. After receiving his education at Saint John's College, Cambridge, he served as a voln teer in Holland under Lord Vere of Tilbury, whose daughter Anne he married shortly after his return to England. Although he was knighted in 1640 by Charles 1., he declared for the Parlia mentary cause, and was appointed cavalry gen eral under his father, who commanded the northern forces. Ile distinguished himself at :Marston floor, July 2, 1644. On the resignation of the Earl of Essex he Will appointed commander-general of the Parliamentary forces, with Cromwell as lieutenant-general. On June 14, 1645, Fairfax, seconded by Cromwell aml Ireton, gained a great victory at Naseby. Fair
fax refused to march against the Scots, who had proclaimed Charles II. King, and Crom well sbeceeded him as commander-in-chief. Fair fax retired into private life with a pension of £5000, and devoted his leisure to literary pur suits. After Cromwell's death lie represented Yorkshire in Richard Cromwell's first Parlia ment. lle was leader of the delegates appointed to confer with Charles IT. at The Hague. He spent his last years in retirement at Bilburgh, near York, where he died, February 12, 1671. Short Memorials of Thomas, Lord Fairfax (1699), a record of the Civil War, is the most important of his writings. which included theo logical, poetical, and other compositions. Con sult: The Fairfax Correspondence (4 vols., Lon don, 1848-49) ; Markham, The Great Lord Fairfax (London, 1870).