title of Lord Fairfax in 1648 on the death of his father, although he was generally known as Sir Thomas Fairfax to distinguish them. He adopted the profession of arms as a young man, when he served under Horace Vere in the Netherlands. In 1637, he married Vere's daughter Anne.

Fairfax was recalled to English service in 1639, for the first of King Charles' disastrous Bishops' Wars against