William Fairfax (1691-1757) was an English civil servant who served in the Virginia House of Burgesses from 1742 to 1744.
Biography[]
William Fairfax was born in London, England in 1691, the grandson of Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron and the cousin of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. He served in the Royal Navy in the Caribbean before serving as a customs agent in Barbados, Chief Justice of the Bahamas under Woodes Rogers, as a customs agent in Marblehead, Massachusetts, and as a land agent for his cousin's vast holdings in Virginia's Northern Neck. His daughter Anne married Lawrence Washington, the owner of Mount Vernon, and his son George William Fairfax befriended Lawrence's half-brother George Washington. William served as a judge on the courts of several Virginia counties before serving in the House of Burgesses from 1742 to 1744, and he planted tobacco at his Belvoir plantation and helped to found Fairfax County. Fairfax later rose to serve as Lieutenant Governor of Virginia, and he represented Virginia at a 1753 conference with the Iroquois at Albany. He died in 1757.