bury, in which he went to Newfoundland in charge of convoy, and to clear the coast of pirates. Thence he went with convoy to Cadiz, and into the Mediterranean. By March 1701 he was back at Cadiz, and thence returned to England. In the following June he was promoted to be rear-admiral of the blue, and some little time later he was knighted.
In 1702 he was appointed, with his flag in the St. George, to a command in the fleet under Rooke, which failed in the attempt on Cadiz, and achieved the brilliant success at Vigo, on which occasion he moved into the Essex, a ship of lighter draught, but does not seem to have been personally engaged. He was afterwards left under Sir Clowdisley Shovell [q. v.] to bring the prizes home, a service which, in spite of exceptionally bad weather, was safely accomplished by 17 Nov. In the following year Fairborne was promoted to be vice-admiral of the red, and appointed to serve in the grand fleet during the short command of Admiral George Churchill [q. v.], after which, with his flag in the Association, he joined Shovell in the Mediterranean, and with him returned to England in November. From the Downs the squadron was ordered into the Thames, and on the evening of the 25th anchored for the night off the Gunfleet. There the great storm, which broke out the next day, found them. They were unable to weigh, but in the early morning of the 27th the Association was blown violently from her anchors, and, with the wind at W.S.W., was driven helplessly across the North Sea to the coast of Holland, whence, after many dangers and narrow escapes, she at last reached Gothenburg, and, after refitting, was able, not without great difficulty, to return to the Thames (Burchett, p. 656; Charnock, v. 148). In the following year Fairborne hoisted his flag on board the Shrewsbury, in the fleet under Shovell at Lisbon, and, on Shovell's going to the Mediterranean, remained in command of the ships in the Channel. In 1705 he accompanied Shovell to the Mediterranean, and was present at the siege and capture of Barcelona in September and October. In 1706 he was again employed on the home station, commanding the squadron sent off Rochelle in May, and at the reduction of Ostend in June (Lediard, Naval Hist. p. 810). He was M.P. for Rochester 1705–8. In June 1707 he was appointed a member of the council of the lord admiral, retiring in June 1708. Upon the death of Sir Clowdisley Shovell in October 1707 he was promoted to be admiral of the white, on 7 Jan. 1707–8, and on 21 Dec. 1708 to be admiral of the fleet; but he had no further employment at sea, though in 1713 he was appointed a commissioner for disbanding the marine regiments (Cal. State Papers, Treasury, 7 Aug. 1713). From this time he retired from the service, so completely that, in a navy list referred to by Charnock, he is said to have died in 1716. In lieu of half-pay a special pension of 600l. a year was settled on him (Bill Office Pension Book, No. 348, 23 Dec. 1714) from 1 Jan. 1714–15. He enjoyed it for many years, and died 11 Nov. 1742 (ib. No. 350).
In his petition already referred to (6 June 1699) he describes himself as having a large family. He also speaks (Cal. State Papers, Treasury, 3 Aug. 1703) of the younger children of Sir Palmes Fairborne. One of these, William Fairborne, served with him in the Victory as a lieutenant, and died, 5 Oct. 1708, in command of the Centurion at Leghorn (Charnock, iii. 246).
[Charnock's Biog. Nav. ii. 143; official letters and other documents in the Public Record Office.]
FAIRCLOUGH. [See also Featley.]
FAIRCLOUGH, RICHARD (1621–1682), nonconformist divine, born in 1621, was the eldest son of Samuel Fairclough (1594–1677) [q. v.] He graduated M.A. as a member of Emmanuel College, Cambridge, of which house he was a fellow. When Benjamin Whichcot [q. v.] was presented in 1643 to the college living of North Cadbury, Somersetshire, he engaged Fairclough to bear him company thither. They had scarcely arrived when Whichcot received a hasty recall to Cambridge, and Fairclough at his request stayed in his place. Soon afterwards the high sheriff of the county applied to Fairclough to deliver the assize sermon on an emergency. He succeeded so well that the sheriff presented him to the rectory of Mells, near Frome, where he was greatly esteemed. When the Act of Uniformity passed he was ejected. After he left Finchingfield, Essex, where he had resided during four or five years with his father and brothers, he became pastor of a congregation at Newman Street, London, whence he removed to Bristol. He was licensed in 1672 to be a general presbyterian teacher, being then resident in Thames Street, London. He died in London 4 July 1682, in his sixty-first year, and was buried in Bunhill Fields, where a monument was erected to his memory, as a ‘testimony of gratitude for many obligations,’ by Thomas Percival of the Middle Temple. According to John Howe, who preached his funeral sermon, Fairclough was ‘a man of a
