Ferdinando Fairfax , 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron Ferdinando Fairfax , 2nd Lord Fairfax of Cameron ( 29 March 1584 – 14 March 1648 ) was an English politician who sat in the House of Commons at various times between 1614 and 1648 . He was a commander in the Parliamentary army in the English Civil War . Early life . He was born in Yorkshire the eldest son of Ellen Aske and Thomas Fairfax , whom Charles I in 1627 created Lord Fairfax of Cameron in the Peerage of Scotland and received a military education in the Netherlands . Two of his brothers were Henry Fairfax and Charles Fairfax . Four others were killed on military service overseas . Political career . He served as member of the English parliament for Boroughbridge during the six parliaments which met between 1614 and 1629 and also during the Short Parliament of 1640 . In May 1640 he succeeded his father as Lord Fairfax , but being a Scottish peer he sat in the English House of Commons as one of the representatives of Yorkshire during the Long Parliament from 1640 until his death . He took the side of the parliament , but held moderate views and desired to maintain the peace . His main seat was Denton Hall in Wharfedale , Yorkshire . Military service . In the first Scottish war Fairfax had commanded a regiment in the king ' s army ; then on the outbreak of the Civil War in 1642 he became commander of the parliamentary forces in Yorkshire , with Newcastle as his opponent . Hostilities began after the repudiation of a treaty of neutrality entered into by Fairfax with the Royalist s . At first Fairfax met with no success . He was driven from York , where he was besieging the Royalists , to Selby ; then in 1643 to Leeds ; and after beating off an attack at that place he was totally defeated on 30 June 1643 at the Battle of Adwalton Moor . He escaped to Hull , which he successfully defended against Newcastle from 2 September until 11 October 1643 , and by means of a brilliant sally caused the siege to be raised . Fairfax was victorious at Selby on 11 April 1644 , and joining the Scots , besieged York , after which he was present at the Battle of Marston Moor ( 2 July 1644 ) , where he commanded the infantry and was routed . He was subsequently , in July 1644 , made Governor of York and charged with the further reduction of the county . In December 1644 he took the town of Pontefract , but failed to secure the castle . During his command in Yorkshire , Fairfax engaged in a paper war with Newcastle , and wrote " The Answer of Ferdinando , Lord Fairfax , to a Declaration of William , Earl of Newcastle " ( 1642 ; printed in Rushworth , pt . iii . vol . ii . p . 139 ) ; he also published " A Letter from . . . Lord Fairfax to . . . Robert , Earl of Essex " ( 1643 ) , describing the victorious sally at Hull . Later life . Fairfax resigned his command on the passing of the Self - denying Ordinance , but remained a member of the Committee for the Government of Yorkshire and was appointed , on 24 July 1645 , steward of the manor of Pontefract . He died from an accident which caused gangrene in his foot on 14 March 1648 and was buried at Bolton Percy in Yorkshire . Fairfax had married twice . By his first wife , Mary , daughter of Edmund Sheffield ( afterwards 1st Earl of Mulgrave ) , he had six daughters and two sons : Thomas , who succeeded him as the third Lord Fairfax , and Charles , a colonel of horse , who was killed at Marston Moor .