Sir Thomas Fairfax
Black Tom
Affectionately known as 'Black Tom', Fairfax had a brilliant and successful career as a cavalry commander in the North and was probably the best commander on the parliamentary side during the Civil Wars. With military experience in Europe from the age of seventeen, his Civil War career started inauspiciously in March 1643 when he was beaten by Goring at Seacroft Moor in Yorkshire, but he turned the tables on Goring in May 1643, capturing him at Wakefield. He then gained an impressive string of victories at Winceby, Nantwich, Selby, and Marston Moor.
In the winter of 1644 he was busy training the New Model Army to unprecedented standards of efficiency. In 1645 he was appointed General of Parliament's New Model Army which he led to a series of victories which ended the struggle, the most notable being at Naseby in June and Langport in July, which knocked the heart out of royalist resistance.
In the second civil war he sent Cromwell, his lieutenant general (second in command), to deal with the Scots while he reduced Colchester. He had two royalist commanders shot when they surrendered as they had broken parole given in 1646. However, he opposed the execution of the king, and although he helped put down the Leveller mutinies, the politics became too much for him and he laid down his command in 1650.
Ten years later he re-emerged briefly into public life to play a large part in the restoration of Charles II. Amidst the destruction of the Civil War, Fairfax remained a moderate. He possessed all the military virtues: he was brave, just, a natural leader, capable administrator, and good tactician.
On the 12th November 1671, he died in Nun Appleton, Yorkshire, and is buried in the parish church at Bilborough. On his death, his son-in-law the Duke of Buckingham wrote of him
"He never knew what envy was nor hate,
His soul was fill'd with worth and honesty.
And with another thing besides, quite out of date,
Call'd modesty."
(Taken from an inscription at the Parish Church of Bilborough, North Yorkshire.)
Timeline
| 1612 | Born in Denton, Yorkshire on the 17th January. |
| 1629 | At age 17, joined the 'English Brigade' in the Low Countries. Took part in siege of Bois le Duc. |
| 1631 | Returned to England. |
| 1637 | Married Anne Vere, the daughter of the commander of the English Brigade, on the 30th June. |
| 1639 | Raised a troop of Yorkshire dragoons, the 'Redcaps', for service in the Bishop's War in Scotland. |
| 1640 | Knighted by King. |
| 1641 | Fairfax's father supports the 'Grand Remonstrance'. |
| 1642 | Appointed commander of the Parliamentary Horse in Yorkshire. |
| 1643 |
January: occupied Leeds.
May: captured Wakefield. 30 June: defeated at Adwalton Moor and led a fighting retreat to Hull. 11 October: won battle of Winceby in Lincolnshire with Cromwell. |
| 1644 |
11 April: won fame at siege of Selby.
2 July: commanded right wing at Marston Moor. September: wounded at Helmsley Castle. |
| 1645 |
21 January: replaced the Earl of Essex as Commander in Chief of the New
Model Army, forcing through his choice of officers including Oliver
Cromwell as his Lieutenant General of Horse.
14 June: commanded army at Battle of Naseby. 10 July: defeated Royalists at Langport. 10 September: captured Bristol. |
| 1646 | First Civil War ended. |
| 1648 | Suppressed Royalist risings of the Second Civil War; succeeded to his father's title as Baron Fairfax of Cameron. |
| 1649 | His troops occupy London to prevent Parliament negotiating with Charles I without the Army. He was not consulted over purge of Parliament ('Pride's Purge'). He disapproved of Army plans to execute King but refused to prevent it, and refused to sign death warrant of Charles I. |
| 1650 | Third Civil War: resigned his command on the 26th June rather than invade Scotland. Command of the New Model Army passed to Cromwell. |
| 1651 | Leads Yorkshire militia in support of Cromwell. |
| 1653 | 16 December: Cromwell becomes Lord Protector. |
| 1658 | Quarreled with Cromwell over the payment of a £20,000 security to release the Duke of Buckingham, Fairfax's future son-in-law. |
| 1659 | Raised army in support of a free Parliament against Lilburne and Lambert, and occupied York. |
| 1660 | Supported restoration of Charles II. |
| 1671 | Died in Nun Appleton, Yorkshire on the 12 November. |