Thomas Parkinson

“ Fairfax spent the remainder of his life at Denton, taking, however, even to the last, an active interest in northern political affairs. Archbisbop Matthews having complained that of his three sons one had wit without grace, another grace without wit, and a third neither grace nor wit, Fairfax to comfort him said that of his own three sons, Ferdinando, bred to be a soldier, was a mere coward ”

“ In 1658 he went to France with the Earl of Kildare, and on his return was present at the marriage of the Duke of Buckingham with his cousin Mary Fairfax at Nun Appleton, Yorkshire. When Buckingham was sent to the Tower by the Protector, Brian accompanied Lord Fairfax to Whitehall when he went to demand his son-in-law's release. Brian was constantly with Lord Fairfax during the latter years of his life, and was present at his death. At the end of 1659 Lord Fairfax sent Brian Fairfax on a delicate and dangerous mission to Monck, then in Scotland. ”

“ FAIRFAX, CHARLES (1597–1673) , antiquary and genealogist, born at Denton in Yorkshire 5 March 1597, was the seventh and third surviving son of Sir Thomas (afterwards first Lord) Fairfax [q. v.] He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, 5 Oct. 1611, and was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn 9 March 1618. About 1627 he married Mary, sole heiress of the Breary family, of Scough Hall in the forest of Knaresborough and Menston. His life was spent chiefly on his wife's patrimony at Menston, Yorkshire, as the trusted counsellor and faithful annalist of his family. ”