Sir Palmes and Stafford Fairborne

Statesman

Palmes Fairborne

In the south aisle of the nave of Westminster Abbey is a white marble monument to Sir Palmes Fairborne. The sculptor was John Bushnell and the lines of verse are by John Dryden. The long inscription reads:

Sacred to ye immortal memory of Sir PALMES FAIRBORNE Kt. [Knight], Governour of TANGER [Tangier] in execution of which command he was mortally wounded by a shott from the Moores [Moors] then besieging the Town in ye 46 yeare of his age Octob. 24th 1680.

Yee sacred reliques which your marble keepe,

Heere undisturb'd by warrs, in quiet sleepe;

Discharge the trust which when it was below

Fairborne's disdaunted [originally undaunted] soul did undergoe:

And be the towns Balladium [sic] from the foe.

Alive and dead these walls he will defend:

Great actions great examples must attend.

The Candian siege his early valour knew;

Where Turkish blood did his young hands imbrew:

From thence returning with deserv'd applause,

Against ye Moores his well-fleshed sword he draws

The same the courage, and the same ye cause.

His youth and age, his life and death combine:

As in some great and regular design,

All of a piece, throughout, and all divine.

Still neerer heaven his vertue shone more bright

Like rising flames expanding in their height;

The Martyrs glory crown'd ye souldiers fight.

More bravely British Generall never fell:

Nor Generall's death was e're revenged so well.

Which his pleas'd eyes beheld before their close,

Follow'd by thousand victims of his foes.

To his lamented losse for times to come, his pious widowe consecrates this tomb.

Fairborne's coat of arms, crest and motto are carved above the inscribed tablet. The word 'Balladium' in the inscription should be 'Palladium', ie. a source of protection or safeguard.

Two obelisks of black marble originally flanked the memorial. Each was surmounted by a carved medallion of a Turk's head, apparently in reference to Fairborne's involvement in the siege of Candia (present-day Heraklion in Crete) which was besieged by Ottoman forces. Two other roundels depicted scenes at Tangier, one showing his death, the other the transporting of stones for improvements to the harbour.

His life

Sir Palmes, son of a Royalist colonel Stafford Fairborne, was baptised on 30th December 1634 at All Saints, Hawton in Nottinghamshire. He fought abroad as a mercenary, became a captain in the Tangier regiment of foot in 1661, and was knighted in 1675. The Moroccan city of Tangier had been occupied by the Portuguese in 1471 but was then given to Charles II in 1661 as part of the dowry of Catherine of Braganza. Fairborne served as governor of the English garrison there, but local forces made frequent attempts to regain the city and Sir Palmes was killed by a stray bullet and buried in Tangier. The English abandoned Tangier three years later.

He married Margery (or Margaret), nee Devereux, widow of a Mr Mansell. They had seven children of whom two, John (died 1679) and Elizabeth (died 1680) died young and are buried in the Abbey cloisters. A gravestone was laid down for John (now worn away) and this read "Here lieth John Faireborne, the sixth son of Sir Palmes Fairborne Knight and Dame Margaret his wife, who died at the age of two months and two weeks and was buried here Febr. 25 1678/79".

After Fairborne's death his widow married Jasper Paston, a son of the 1st Earl of Yarmouth. A young son Charles Paston was buried in 1684. She was buried in the Abbey on 9th June 1694 but has no marker.

Stafford Fairborne

Their son Sir Stafford Fairborne was born about 1666 and rose to the rank of Admiral of the Fleet, after serving in many actions. From 1705-1710 he was Member of Parliament for Rochester in Kent.

His first wife was Dorothy Fane and several children were baptised at St Anne's church in Westminster. He married secondly Rebecca Paston. He was buried in the nave near his father's monument on 18th November 1742 but has no monument or gravestone. His daughter Armine, wife of John Treadway, administered to his estate.