Fairfax, Thomas, 3rd Baron Fairfax of Cameron (1612 -1671)

Thomas Fairfax, 3rd Baron Fairfax was the eldest son of Ferdinando, 2nd Baron, and Mary, daughter of Edmund Sheffield, 1st Earl of Mulgrave. He was educated at St John's College, Cambridge, where he was admitted Fellow Commoner about 1626, matriculated in 1626, and took his M.A. in 1647. He was admitted to Gray's Inn 26 May 1628. He was sent to the Low Countries under Sir Horace Vere, and was present at the siege of Bois le Duc in 1629. He held command in the first Scottish wars, and was knighted in January 1641. A famous parliamentary general, he took a leading part in the defeat of Charles I and later in the Restoration of Charles II. In 1637 he married Lady Anne Vere, daughter and coheir of Sir Horatio Vere, Lord Vere of Tilbury. He was Member of Parliament for Cirencester in 1649, for the West Riding of Yorkshire in 1654, and for Yorkshire in 1660. According to John Aubrey, "When Oxford was surrendered (24° Junij, 1646,) the first thing Generall Fairfax did was to sett a good guard of soldiers to preserve the Bodleian Library". Later he presented twenty nine manuscripts, including one of Gower's Confessio Amantis to the Bodleian. He collected coins and medals, and "engravings of warriors", and was patron of Roger Dodsworth, compiler of the Monasticon. In 1699 Short memorials of Thomas Lord Fairfax, written by himself was published in London. His only surviving daughter, Mary, married, 15 September 1657, the 2nd Duke of Buckingham, but died without issue 20 October 1704. He was succeeded by his second cousin, Henry, 4th Baron Fairfax, son of the Reverend Henry Fairfax, second son of the 1st Baron.