He "erected a mansion on Bishophill (York) early in Elizabeth's reign".
Fairfax was the only son and heir of Sir William Fairfax of Gilling Castle and Walton, Yorkshire, by his second wife Jane Stapleton, daughter and heiress of Brian Stapleton of Burton Joyce.
He attended school at Gilling and entered Caius College, Cambridge, in 1590.
He succeeded his father to the estates of Gilling and Walton in 1597 and was a sheep farmer and an encloser.
She was an open Catholic and was convicted of recusancy at regular intervals from 1599 until her death.
[1] Before her death in 1626, they were the parents of at least eleven children, including:[2] In 1627, Fairfax remarried to Lady Mary Bamburgh, widow of Sir William Bamburgh, 1st Baronet of Howsham, and daughter of Sir Robert Forth of Butley, Suffolk.