Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

British Army officer, politician and peer (1707–1793)

The Right Honourable The Lord Fairfax of Cameron MP
Born	1707
Died	1793 Leeds Castle, Kent
Nationality	British
Title	7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Predecessor	Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Successor	Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron
Spouse(s)	Martha Collins, Dorothy Best
Parent(s)	Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron Catherine Colepeper

Major Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron (1707 – 1793) was a British Army officer, politician and peer. He died at Leeds Castle, England, which he inherited from his mother Catherine, daughter of Thomas Culpeper, 2nd Baron Culpeper of Thoresway.

He was a younger son of Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and Catherine Colepeper (or Culpeper). Robert gained the rank of major in the service of the 1st Troop of Horse Guards. He held the office of Member of Parliament (MP) for Maidstone from 1740 to 1741 and from 1747 to 1754. He also was the MP for Kent between 1754 and 1768. Robert married Martha Collins, daughter of Anthony Collins, on 25 April 1741. He later married, Dorothy Best, daughter of Mawdisty Best and Elizabeth Fearne, on 15 July 1749.^[1]

His title and immense domain, which he inherited in 1781, consisting of 5,282,000 acres (21,380 km²), was in possession of his elder brother, Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, during the American Revolutionary War, but it was confiscated during the hostilities by the Virginia Act of 1779. Robert Fairfax was awarded £13,758 in 1792, by Act of Parliament for the relief of American Loyalists.^[2]

Robert died on 15 July 1793 without an heir so the Cameron title was left in abeyance.^[3] His cousin, Bryan Fairfax, 8th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, visited London in 1798 and claimed the title (although he never actually used the title once it was granted to him). He lived in the United States where he was a priest of the Episcopal Church, and also a neighbor and friend of George Washington.^[4]^[5]^[3]

Ancestry

Ancestors of Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

16. Thomas Fairfax, 1st Lord Fairfax of Cameron

8. Rev. Henry Fairfax

17. Catherine Constable

4. Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

18. Sir Henry Cholmley of Roxby

9. Mary Cholmley

19. Margaret Babthorpe

2. Thomas Fairfax, 5th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

20.

10. Sir Robert Barwick of Toulston

21.

5. Frances Barwick

22. Walter Strickland of Boynton

11. Ursula Strickland

23. Frances Wentworth

1. Robert Fairfax, 7th Lord Fairfax of Cameron

24. Thomas of Wigsell Colepeper^[6]

12. John Colepeper, 1st Baron Colepeper

25. Anne Slaney

6. Thomas Colepeper, 2nd Baron Colepeper

26. Sir Thomas Colepeper of Hollingbourne

13. Judith Colepeper

27. Elizabeth Cheney^[6]

3. Catherine Colepeper

28. Jan van Hesse

14. Jan van Hesse

29. Barbara van Panhuys

7. Margaretta van Hesse

30. Abel van Cats

15. Catharina van Cats

31. Charlotte van Tuyll van Serooskerke

Peerage of Scotland
Preceded by Thomas Fairfax	Lord Fairfax of Cameron 1781–1793	Succeeded by Bryan Fairfax

References

^ thePeerage.com
^ Pages 409 to 417, Lewis Namier, The Structure of Politics at the Accession of George III (2nd edition – London: St Martin's Press, 1957)
^ ^a ^b Tinnell, Dawn (2020). "Signed, Sealed And Proved: The Last Will And Testament Of Robert, 7th Lord Fairfax". The UnCommonwealth: Voices from the Library of Virginia. Retrieved 10 August 2021.
^ Edmund Lodge, The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage, p. 191
^ Lindsay Fairfax, An Historic Sketch of The Two Fairfax Families, p. 17-18
^ ^a ^b Attree, F.W.T.; Booker, J.H.L. (1904). "The Sussex Colepepers, Part I". Sussex Archaeological Collections. XLVII: 47–81. doi:10.5284/1085739.