He was born in Cockermouth in Cumbria in 1788, [a] the son of John Fallows, a weaver, and his wife Rebecca Fallas.

[2] He was taught by his father to read, and learned Latin and maths, and worked as a Parish Clerk in the nearby village of Bridekirk.

[3] Due in some part to the dedication of his father and the generosity of the townspeople, the scholarly Fearon was given the funds to attend St John's College, Cambridge, where he studied mathematics, coming third in his year when he graduated in 1813.

Later in that year he was appointed by the Admiralty to be the astronomer at the Cape of Good Hope, which would involve overseeing the building of an observatory in what was then a British colony.

The life and work of Fallows is commemorated in Cockermouth by infoboards, in the Old Kings Arms Lane and Lowther Went, and inside the Kirkgate Arts Centre.