William Fairfax, 3rd Viscount Fairfax of Emley
(baptised 1610-1644), Parliamentarian army officerSitter in 8 portraits
Sir William Fairfax was a parliamentarian army officer in the English civil wars. He was knighted by Charles I in 1630 and in 1636 he succeeded to the family estates in Yorkshire. In 1641 he became a captain in his uncle Baron Fairfax's regiment. He accompanied his cousin Sir Thomas Fairfax to confront the king with a parliamentarian petition on Heworth Moor outside York in June 1642. Fairfax fought in many battles including at Edgehill. In August 1644 he was sent into Lancashire with 2,000 cavalry and was present at the siege of Liverpool. He was mortally wounded relieving Montgomery Castle in September 1644, and he died the following day.
Comments back to top
We are currently unable to accept new comments, but any past comments are available to read below.
If you need information from us, please use our Archive enquiry service . Please note that we cannot provide valuations. You can buy a print or greeting card of most illustrated portraits. Select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Buy a Print button. Prices start at around £6 for unframed prints, £16 for framed prints. If you wish to license an image, select the portrait of interest to you, then look out for a Use this image button, or contact our Rights and Images service. We digitise over 8,000 portraits a year and we cannot guarantee being able to digitise images that are not already scheduled.