, 1640s.
National Portrait Gallery, London 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. 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
Marquess of Newcastle against the combined besieging forces of the English Parliamentarians and the
Scottish Covenanters, while
Prince Rupert hastened with all available forces to the relief of the besieged garrison. A gathering of eager national forces within a few square miles of ground naturally led to a battle, and
Marston Moor (2 July 1644) proved decisive for the struggle in the north. The younger Fairfax bore himself with the greatest gallantry in the battle and, though severely wounded, managed to join
Oliver Cromwell and the victorious cavalry on the other wing. One of his brothers, Colonel Charles Fairfax, was killed in action. But the Marquess of Newcastle fled the kingdom, and the
Royalists abandoned all hope of retrieving their affairs. The city of York was taken, and nearly the whole of the north would submit to the Parliament. 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
Self-denying Ordinance was passed. This involved the removal of
the Earl of Essex from the supreme command, along with other Members of Parliament. This was then followed by the
New Model Ordinance, which replaced the locally raised Parliamentary regiments with a unified army. Sir Thomas Fairfax was selected as the new Lord General, with Cromwell as his Lieutenant-General and cavalry commander. After a short preliminary campaign, the
New Model Army justified its existence, and "the rebels' new brutish general", as the king had called him, proved his capacity as commander-in-chief in the decisive
Battle of Naseby (14 June 1645). The king fled to
Wales. Fairfax besieged
Leicester, and was successful at
Taunton,
Bridgwater and
Bristol. The whole of the west was soon reduced. medal depicting Thomas Fairfax in profile, 1645. National Portrait Gallery, London Fairfax arrived in
London on 12 November 1645. In his progress towards the capital he was accompanied by applauding crowds. Complimentary speeches and thanks were presented to him by both houses of parliament, along with a jewel of great value set with diamonds, and a sum of money. The king had returned from Wales and established himself at
Oxford, where there was a strong garrison but, ever vacillating, he withdrew secretly, and proceeded to
Newark to throw himself into the arms of the Scots
Covenanter army there. Oxford capitulated in June 1646 following the final
siege, and by the end of September 1646 Charles had neither army nor garrison in England, following the surrender of
Thomas Blagge at
Wallingford Castle after a siege conducted by Fairfax. In January 1647, the King was delivered up by the Covenanters to the commissioners of England's parliament. Fairfax met the king beyond
Nottingham, accompanying him during the journey to
Holdenby, treating him with the utmost consideration in every way. "The general", said Charles, "is a man of
honour, and keeps his word which he had pledged to me." 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
Presbyterians and the
Independents in and out of Parliament. In these negotiations the New Model Army soon began to take a most active part. The Lord General was placed in the unpleasant position of intermediary between his own officers and Parliament. In July the person of the King was seized by
Cornet Joyce, a subaltern of cavalry—an act which sufficiently demonstrated the hopelessness of controlling the army by its
Articles of War. in 1648 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
Second Civil War, Fairfax succeeded his father in the barony and in the office of governor of
Hull. In the field against the English Royalists in 1648 he displayed his former energy and skill, and his operations culminated in the successful
siege of Colchester, after the surrender of which place he approved the execution of the Royalist leaders Sir
Charles Lucas and
Sir George Lisle, holding that these officers had broken their
parole. At the same time, Cromwell's great victory of
Preston crushed the faction of the Scots Covenanters who had made an engagement with the king, the
Engagers.
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. In calling over the court, when the crier pronounced the name of Fairfax, it is said that his wife,
Anne Fairfax, shouted from the gallery that "he had more wit than to be there". Later when the court said that they were acting for "all the good people of England", she shouted "No, nor the hundredth part of them!". This resulted in an investigation and Anne was asked or required to leave the court. Anne was later approached to intercede on the King's behalf to prevent his execution. Fairfax's last service as Commander-in-chief was the suppression of the
Leveller mutiny at
Burford in May 1649. He had given his adhesion to the new order of things, and had been reappointed Lord General, but he merely administered the affairs of the army; when in 1650 Scots Covenanter
Kirk Party eventually declared for
Charles II, and the
Council of State resolved to send an army to Scotland in order to prevent an invasion of England, Fairfax resigned his commission. Cromwell desired to see him continue as Commander-in-chief, as did those planning the war, but Fairfax could not support the war. Cromwell was appointed his successor, "Captain-general and Commander-in-chief of all the forces raised or to be raised at authority of Parliament within the Commonwealth of England." ==Interregnum ==