He later held the curacy of Croydon, where he came to the notice of Archbishop Thomas Herring, leading to his becoming the vicar of Orpington, Kent.
He died on 26 August 1777, leaving his widow, formerly a Miss Purrier of Leeds, whom he married about 1760, with scanty resources.
Fawkes was a sort of chaplain to George Fox-Lane, and his first production in literature is said to have been an anonymous poem of 1745 describing the beauties of his house, Bramham Park.
His works were: Fawkes's volume of original poems was embodied in the collection by Chalmers (vol.
88–93, and several of his translations, chiefly from Menander, were reprinted in part i. of the Comicorum Græcorum Fragmenta selected by James Bailey (1840).
Lord Mahon, later Earl of Stanhope, married Lady Hester Pitt, daughter of William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham, whose seat was situated in Fawkes's parish of Hayes, on 19 December 1774, and some lines addressed to the bridegroom by Fawkes on this occasion are printed in the Chatham Correspondence, iv.
Great popularity attended his song of The Brown Jug, which began with the words It was introduced by John O'Keeffe into his comic opera The Poor Soldier, which was played at Covent Garden Theatre for the first time on 4 November 1783.