Thomas Fairfax, 6th Baron Fairfax of Cameron (
October 22,
1693 –
December 9,
1781) was the son of
Thomas Fairfax, 5th Baron Fairfax of Cameron and of Catherine, daughter of
Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway.
The only resident
peer in late
colonial America, Fairfax administered his vast
Northern Neck Proprietary — a
Virginia land grant dating back to 1649 — from his wilderness estate at
Greenway Court, Virginia. Various place names in
Northern Virginia and
West Virginia's
Eastern Panhandle are named for him—most notably
Fairfax County, Virginia.
Biography
Youth and early adulthood
Born at
Leeds Castle in
Kent,
England — owned by his maternal Culpeper ancestors since the 1630s — Lord Fairfax succeeding to his title in 1709. He was educated at
Oriel College, Oxford between 1710 and 1713 and afterward held a
commission in the Royal Regiment of Horse Guards (1721-1733). He was a contributor to the early newspaper
Addison's Spectator.
In 1719, Fairfax came into possession of the Culpeper family estates in Virginia's
Northern Neck Proprietary between the
Rappahannock and
Potomac Rivers. These lands included a great portion of the
Shenandoah and
South Branch Potomac valleys. Struggling to keep up an expensive lifestyle and maintain
Leeds Castle, Fairfax relied on the income from his Virginia tract, both from the sale of land and the annual quit rents, paid by planters who settled in the Northern Neck. These rents were collected by his resident land agent,
Robert "King" Carter. In the fall of 1732, Fairfax read Carter's obituary in the London's monthly
The Gentleman's Magazine and was astonished to read of the vast personal wealth Carter had accummulated, which included 10,000 Pounds in cash: this at a time when the Governor of Virginia was paid an annual salary of 200 pounds. Rather than appoint another Virginian to the position, Lord Fairfax arranged to have his cousin Colonel
William Fairfax move in 1734 from
Massachusetts to
Virginia to serve as his resident land agent.
In America
Lord Fairfax travelled to Virginia for the first time between 1735 and 1737 to inspect and protect his lands. In 1738, about thirty farms were established as part of his 9,000 acre
Patterson Creek Manor near present day
Burlington,
West Virginia. The northwestern boundary of his Northern Neck Proprietary, which had been contested by the
English Privy Council, was marked in 1746 by the "
Fairfax Stone" at the headwaters of the
North Branch Potomac River. Returning to America in 1747, he first settled at
Belvoir (present-day
Fort Belvoir), an
estate which had been completed by Col. Fairfax six years earlier. He then became active in developing his lands and collecting ground rents.
Fairfax was the only resident
peer in
colonial America —
William Alexander's claim to be the
Earl of Stirling was never fully successful and other peers held offices in the Colonies, but returned to Britain afterwards. In 1748, he made the acquaintance of
George Washington, a distant relative of the
Yorkshire Fairfax family who was then a youth of 16. Impressed with Washington's energy and talents, Lord Fairfax employed him (his first job ever) to
survey his lands lying west of the
Blue Ridge.
Fairfax, a life-long bachelor, moved out to the
Shenandoah Valley in 1752. At the suggestion of his nephew
Thomas Bryan Martin, he fixed his residence at a
hunting lodge at
Greenway Court, near
White Post,
Clarke County.
Here he and Martin lived together in a style of liberal hospitality, frequently indulging in the diversion of the
chase. He served as county lieutenant and as
justice of the peace for
Frederick County which then included Clarke.
The Revolution
Though a frank and avowed
Loyalist, Fairfax was never insulted or molested by the
Whigs. His domain, however, was confiscated during the hostilities by the Virginia Act of 1779. Less than two months after the defeat of
Cornwallis at
Yorktown, the 88 year old Fairfax died at his seat at
Greenway Court near
White Post in
Clarke County,
Virginia. He is buried on the east side of Christ Church (Episcopal) in
Winchester, Virginia.
Thomas Fairfax's title and immense domain, consisting of 5,282,000 acres (21,380 km²), descended to his only surviving brother,
Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who died at
Leeds Castle in 1793. Robert Fairfax was awarded
₤13,758 in 1792, by Act of Parliament for the relief of American Loyalists. A portion of his estate devised to nephew Denny Martin Fairfax was later the subject of the landmark
Supreme Court case
Martin v. Hunter's Lessee.
Legacy
- Lord Fairfax Community College bears his name.
