Background
Fairfax was the great-grandson of Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron. His father was Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and his mother was Francis Barwick.
Fairfax was the great-grandson of Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron. His father was Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and his mother was Francis Barwick.
Fairfax graduated from Magdalen College, Oxford, in 1675.
In 1688, he was Colonel of the Yorkshire Militia, under Sir Thomas Osborne, Earl of Danby. In 1704 Fairfax obtained from Queen Anne a patent to search for wrecks and treasure in the West Indies, exclusive for three years. A company was formed, and three salvage vessels were sent.
But the expedition was a financial failure.
In 1707 he was in parliament again, elected for Yorkshire in a by-election. But the 1707 Acting of Union disqualified him as an Member of Parliament, since Scottish peers could no longer be in the House of Commons.
In 1685, Fairfax married Catherine Colepepper, daughter of Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper, and they had seven children: Thomas Fairfax, Henry Colpepper Fairfax, Katherine Fairfax, Margaret Fairfax, Frances Fairfax, Mary Fairfax, Robert Fairfax.
In 1690 and 1695, he was a member of Parliament as a Tory and Court supporter.