Born in Kent, England at Leeds Castle — owned by his maternal Culpeper ancestors since the 1630s — Lord Fairfax succeeded to his title in 1709. He was educated at Oriel College, Oxford University between 1710 and 1713 and afterward held a commission in the Royal Horse Guards. He was a contributor to the early newspaper The Spectator. of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, which was adapted into the official Seal of the County of Fairfax, Virginia. In 1719, Fairfax came into possession of the vast Culpeper family estates in Virginia's Northern NeckProprietary between the Rappahannock and Potomac Rivers. These lands included a great portion of the Shenandoah and South Branch Potomac valleys, in all consisting of some 5,282,000 acres. 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 monthly The Gentleman's Magazine and was astonished to read of the vast personal wealth Carter had accumulated, which included £10,000 in cash: this at a time when the Governor of Virginia was paid an annual salary of £200. 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 North 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 Patterson Creek Manor near present-day Burlington, Mineral County, 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, an estate which had been completed by Col. Fairfax six years earlier. That year he also set aside land for his personal use at Swan Pond Manor. He then became active in developing his lands and collecting ground rents. Fairfax was the only resident peer in the Thirteen Colonies. In 1748, he made the acquaintance of George Washington, then a youth of 16, a distant relative of the YorkshireFairfax family. Impressed with Washington's energy and talents, Lord Fairfax employed him to survey his lands lying west of the Blue Ridge. Fairfax, a lifelong 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. Though an avowed Loyalist, Fairfax kept quiet and was known to be close to Washington. He was never insulted or molested. Title to his domain, however, was confiscated during the hostilities by the Virginia Act of 1779. Less than two months after the 1781 defeat of the British army at Yorktown, the 88-year-old Fairfax died at his seat at Greenway Court. He was buried on the east side of Christ Church in Winchester, Virginia.
Legacy
Lord Fairfax's title descended to his only surviving brother, Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, who died at Leeds Castle in 1793. Since, but for the war, his immense domain should also have passed to Robert Fairfax, the latter was awarded £13,758 in 1792, by Act of Parliament for the relief of American Loyalists. A portion of this estate, devised to nephew Denny Martin Fairfax, was later the subject of the landmark U.S. Supreme Court case Martin v. Hunter's Lessee.
Fairfax County, Virginia and the City of Fairfax, Virginia are named for Lord Fairfax.
Fairfax and Cameron Streets in Alexandria, Virginia are named for Lord Fairfax. The town's first survey map was made in 1749 by Lord Fairfax's young protege George Washington.
Fairfax depended on hundreds of slaves who worked among his 30 Virginia plantations. He was active in trading slaves and, at the age of 84, he still engaged in rape, participating in a "little talked about" activity called "bedding down with a negro wench," for which Lord Fairfax would pay a fee to the person who supplied the "wench."
