He was born Thomas Fairfax of Walton and was presumably a supporter of the House of York in the Wars of the Roses.
Fairfax's original home was near the Battle of Towton, which decided the outcome of that war.
[2] Thus, historian John Marwood wrote that "it could be argued that the rightful heirs had at last come home.
[1] In 1505, the castle was essentially a large tower designed to be defensible against hit-and-run Scottish raiders, but not a long siege.
He married Elizabeth Shireburn of Stonyhurst in Lancashire and had 10 children: his eldest son Thomas, who inherited the estate upon the elder Thomas' death; three other sons named Richard, Robert and John; and five daughters named Margaret, Jane, Elizabeth, Isabel, Anne and Dorothy.