William Fairfax

Who was William Fairfax?

William Fairfax was a political appointee of the English Crown and a politician: he was Collector of Customs in Barbados, and Chief Justice and governor of the Bahamas; he served as Customs agent in Marblehead, Massachusetts before being reassigned to the Virginia colony.

There he was elected to the House of Burgesses and then as President of the Governor's Council. As a tobacco planter, he commissioned the construction of his plantation called Belvoir in northern Virginia. He was the son of Henry Fairfax, a grandson of Henry Fairfax, 4th Lord Fairfax of Cameron, and first cousin of Thomas Fairfax, 6th Lord Fairfax of Cameron. He acted as land agent for his cousin's vast holdings on the Northern Neck of Virginia.