Palmes Fairborne

[1] The regiment mustered one thousand strong, besides officers, on Putney Heath, 14 October, and sailed to garrison Tangier, under the command of the Earl of Peterborough, in January 1662.

During the next eighteen years Fairborne took a prominent part in the defense of Tangier, which was exposed to attacks from the Moors, receiving the honour of knighthood for his services.

The account Fairborne gives of the condition of the city in his letters home is deplorable; stores and victuals ran short, and constant desertions took place.

[citation needed] Knighted in April 1675 and in May 1676, he was made joint deputy-governor in the absence of William O'Brien, 2nd Earl of Inchiquin, and on the death (21 November) of his coadjutor, Colonel Allsop, he had the sole command for the next two years.

Two years later, 25 March 1680, the Moors under their Sultan Ismail Ibn Sharif (Muley Hassan), blockaded Tangier, and Fairborne returned early in April to conduct the defence as sole governor and commander-in-chief.

After three days' fighting, which the dying governor watched from a balcony, the Moors were forced to raise the siege and repulsed with great loss, while Fairborne, lingering until the evening of 27 October, saw his troops march into the town.