Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (16 April 1657 – 6 January 1710 N.S.) was an English nobleman and politician.

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 1690 and 1695, he was a member of Parliament as a Tory and Court supporter.

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 Act of Union disqualified him as an MP, 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, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, Henry Colpepper Fairfax, Katherine Fairfax, Margaret Fairfax, Frances Fairfax, Mary Fairfax, Robert Fairfax.

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