Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/142

 charge of the nonconformist congregation in Ipswich, in addition to his own. The independent section formed a separate congregation in 1686; on the issue of James's ‘declaration for liberty of conscience’ next year (4 April), the presbyterians under Fairfax hired a building for public worship in St. Nicholas parish. Timothy Wright became his assistant at Ipswich in 1698. On 26 April 1700 Fairfax opened the existing meeting-house in St. Nicholas Street (now unitarian). His work was done. He died at Barking on 11 Aug. 1700. The funeral sermon was preached on 15 Aug. in the parish church by Samuel Bury [q. v.] Fairfax was succeeded at Needham by his grandnephew, John Meadows, who in his later years was assisted by Joseph Priestley; and at Ipswich by Wright, who died in November 1701, aged 42.

Fairfax married Elizabeth, daughter of William Cowper of Mosborough, Derbyshire. From his eldest son, Nathaniel (1661–1722), are descended the Kebles of Creeting, Suffolk, who possess an original painting of John Fairfax; a duplicate is in the possession of the Harwoods of Battisford, descended from his daughter Elizabeth (born 1668), who married Samuel Studd of Coddenham, Suffolk; his other children were Thomas (?) and William.

He published: 1. ‘The Dead Saint Speaking,’ &c., 1679, 4to (this is a sermon preached at Dedham, Essex, on 16 Sept. 1668, in memory of Matthew Newcomen [q. v.]; it was reported to Sheldon as containing ‘dangerous words’ at an ‘outrageous conventicle;’ the publication, which bears Fairfax's initials, was made against his consent by John Collinges, D.D. [q. v.]). 2. ‘Πρεσβύτερς διπλῆς τιμῆς ἄξιος … life of … O. Stockton … funeral sermon,’ &c., 1681, 12mo (dedicated to the Lady Brook; the sermon has separate title-page, ‘Mors Triumphata,’ &c.). Of the life there is an abridged reprint in ‘Christian Biography,’ 1826, 12mo. 3. ‘Primitiæ Synagogæ,’ &c., 1700, 4to (sermon on opening the Ipswich meeting-house; dedicated to Sir Thomas Cuddon, chamberlain of the city of London). His funeral sermon (1673) for Samuel Spring, ejected from St. Mary's, Creeting, is quoted by Calamy, but does not seem to have been published.

[Funeral Sermon by S. Bury, 1702; Calamy's Account, 1713, pp. 643 sq., 653, 662 sq.; Walker's Sufferings, 1714, ii. 143; Palmer's Nonconf. Memorial, 1803, iii. 249 (makes him of Christ Church, Oxford); Masters's Hist. College of Corpus Christi (Lamb), 1831; Taylor's Suffolk Bartholomeans, 1840, p. 14 sq. (gives original letters, papers, and pedigrees, and lithographed portrait by Weld Taylor); Davis's Evang. Nonconf. in Essex, 1863, p. 382; Browne's Hist. Congr. Norf. and Suff., 1877, pp. 367, 369, 390, 491, 493 sq.]  FAIRFAX, JOHN (1804–1877), journalist and member of the legislative council, New South Wales, was born at Warwick, England, in 1804. After a short time spent at school he was, at the age of twelve, apprenticed to a printer in his native town. Having served his time he went to London and worked for some years on the ‘Morning Chronicle’ newspaper. His next step was to set up as printer and bookseller in Leamington, near his home and friends. He also started a newspaper, and, having married, settled down as a leading member of the congregational body in that town. Business prospered for a while, but his newspaper brought him into trouble, for, in consequence of some strictures on a public officer, he was prosecuted for libel, and, though the decision was in his favour, the costs were more than he could then pay. He emigrated with his young family, and on 26 Sept. 1838 he accepted the office of librarian to the Australian Subscription Library in Sydney. Ere long he was engaged by Mr. Stokes, the proprietor of the ‘Sydney Morning Herald,’ then a bi-weekly paper, to assist in the work of editing and publishing. In 1841, in conjunction with Mr. Charles Kemp, and aided by many friends whose confidence he had gained, he took the bold step of buying the ‘Herald’ of Mr. Stokes. Converted into a daily morning paper, the ‘Herald’ soon became and still remains the leading journal of Eastern Australia. In 1851 Fairfax visited England, where his first care was to pay off all debts that he had left unpaid in Leamington thirteen years before. Returning to Sydney in 1853 with large additions to his knowledge of printing processes and newspaper work, he bought out his friend and partner, Mr. C. Welch, and became sole proprietor of the ‘Sydney Herald.’ He afterwards made his sons his partners. A second visit to England (in 1863) enabled him still further to develope his now large establishment in Sydney.

He took an active part in the various enterprises of his time, both benevolent and practical, had a large share in the establishment and management of the Australian Mutual Provident Society, and remained always a most useful member of the congregational body. Only once he presented himself as a candidate for the legislative assembly, when he was defeated. In 1870 he became a member of the council of education, and in 1874 he was appointed a member of the legislative council. This honour he enjoyed for only three years, dying at his