George Henry Farr

The Ven. George Henry Farr, M.A., LL.D. (2 July 1819 – 7 February 1904) was an Anglican priest in South Australia.

History

Farr was born in Tottenham, London, a son of John Farr, and was admitted to Christ's Hospital school shortly after his eighth birthday, the youngest boy in the school of 700 students; the future Sir H. S. Maine, and Canon Buckle of Wells, were fellow-students. At age 15 he won a school exhibition for Cambridge University, but was forced by illness to defer his going up to Cambridge until he was 20. As an undergraduate of Pembroke College he served as oar-captain and stroke of the Pembroke Eight, a sport he continued to participate in with some success after he graduated in 1843 in both classics and mathematics. With an eye on a career in Law, he entered the Middle Temple, and after graduating read with a leading conveyancer, but abandoned his studies to to take holy orders. He was ordained deacon in 1844 and priest the following year by the Bishop of Exeter. He was eight years in Cornwall, serving at Redruth and St Buryan, and for a time the cure of Stapleton, in the diocese of Gloucester and Bristol.

In 1854 he was offered the position of headmaster of St. Peter's College, Adelaide, which he promptly accepted, and left England shortly afterwards. The college was in its infancy, with only two habitable classrooms, and a dining hall that doubled as the chapel. There were two masters and 70 students. For 25 years Farr served as head, with conspicuous ability and success. The material fabric and the school steadily increased during his regime, and he saw the foundation stone of its beautiful chapel laid, and the building grow into a perfect temple.

Three years after his arrival in Adelaide he was appointed Canon of St. Peter's Cathedral, and served in that position in addition to his College duties.

but during his long and brilliant career in South Australia as a clergyman and schoolmaster he gained the respect and admiration of all classes in the community, and his death will occasion sincere regret in all parts of the state. For many years Dr. Farr was an enthusiastic supporter of numerous educational and philanthropic organizations, which had for their object the moral, intellectual, and physical welfare of the people; and his services are still remembered with gratitude by those who had the privilege of working with him, as well as by those who benefited by his disinterested labours. As a clergyman he won the respect of his fellow-ministers by his ability and integrity, while he endeared himself to his parishioners by the kindly interest which he took in their temporal and spiritual affairs. Men of all ages and in widely diverse social positions found in him a true friend and wise counsellor, who was ever ready to help them in times of difficulty and sorrow, and to encourage them in their efforts to make the best use of their talents and opportunities. Many prominent citizens in Adelaide and other parts of the state owed much of their success to later life to the training which they received at St. Peter's College while the late Archdeacon was head master of that institution, and no schoolmaster was more highly respected by his "old boys" than was Dr. Farr. —A Great Educationalist.— It is probable that the name of Archdeacon Farr will be best remembered in years to come as one of the ablest school-masters that it has been the good fortune of South Australia to possess. If it were possible to write a history of the operations of those hidden forces which have during the last century and a half been working silently but effectively for the advancement of the English-speaking people schoolmasters would have to be given a prominent place among the benefactors of the race. To go no further back than the present century, it would be impossible to estimate the influence which such men as Dr. Arnold and Professor Jowett exercised upon the thought, politics, literature, and religious beliefs of the age in which they lived. To them was entrusted the formation of the characters of some of the foremost men of the last century in every walk of life, and to a very large degree their ideals have become the ideals not only of the leaders, but also of the masses of the people. Although the late Archdeacon Farr could scarcely be classed in the same category with the abovementioned masters of the educational art, yet he stood high in the lists of able and successful teachers, and the value of the work done by him during his 25 years' occupancy of the headmaster's chair at St. Peter's College is at least equal to that which resulted from his purely ministerial labour. From the first he took Dr. Arnold, the great master of Rugby School, as his ideal of what a schoolmaster should be, and set out with the definite purpose of educating and developing not merely the intellectual but also the moral and physical faculties of the boys under his care. Dean Stanley said of Arnold:—"His great object was to make the school a place of really Christian education — words which to him meant something very different to the general professions of good teachers. It was not merely an attempt to give theological instruction, or to introduce sacred words in to school admonitions. In his own words. 'It was not necessary that the school should contain so many hundreds of boys, but it was necessary that it should be a school for Christian gentlemen.'" It was upon similar principles that Dr. Farr conducted his school. Old scholars tell how he would overlook almost any fault in a boy except untruthfulness. Like Arnold, he made himself a friend and companion of the boys. Whatever may be thought of his methods, none can gainsay the fact that the result amply justified the means. Among those who came under his influence may be mentioned the Hon. Sir Denzil Ibbetson (son of a former incumbent of St. John's, Adelaide), who is now a member of the Executive Council of the Viceroy of India; Ven. Archdeacon Bussell; Rev. C. Hornabrook; the late Hon. George Leake, who was Premier of Western Australia; the late Sir John C. Bray; Sir John Downer, K.C.; Dr. E. C. Stirling; Hon. Sir Lancelot Stirling, M.L.C.; the late Dr. Blue; Hon. R. Butler, M.P., Treasurer; Messrs. J. S. O'Halloran and T. J. S. O Halloran, S.M., and A. Buchanan. Many other of his pupils, if they have not come into such prominence as those mentioned, have yet done good work in their respective spheres, and proved that the theory upon which their education was based was capable of standing the most severe test, namely, that of results. Archdeacon Farr was one of the early movers in the project to establish a University in Adelaide, and held the offices of warden from 1880 to 1882 and Vice-Chancellor from 1887 to 1893. At the expiration of the term he did not seek re-election, but continued to occupy a seat on the council until his retirement from active work in 1896. He thus rendered valuable service in helping to mould ideals upon which the highest seat of learning in the colony was founded. He Was also an active member of the board of the Public Library, Museum, and Art Gallery, being Chairman on three occasions between 1869 and 1886. —Ministerial Work.— in 1879 Dr. Farr severed his connection with St. Peter's College, and in the following year was appointed Archdeacon of the missionary districts in the Diocese of Adelaide. This position necessitated many long and arduous journeys, the most notable being an overland trip from Port Augusta to Fowler's Bay shortly after his appointment. In later years he was incumbent of St. Bede's Church, Semaphore; St. Michael's, Mitcham; and St. Luke's, Adelaide (for 12 years). In 1896 failing health and advancing years caused him to resign his incumbency at St. Luke's, and a long holiday was spent in a voyage to Norfolk Island, the headquarters of the Melanesian Mission, where his cousin, the Rev. John Coleridge Patteson, had once been Bishop, and where one of his daughters was at the time labouring as a missionary. Although on his return he did not again enter upon the active duties of a minister of the Gospel, he did not lose his interest in his old parishioners, and often would drive around from one house to another on a Sunday morning to administer the sacrament to members of his old church who were unable owing to infirmity to attend the ordinary services. —A Many-sided Man.— Although he never courted publicity or put himself forward as an agitator, yet in more than one direction Archdeacon Farr did good public service is a quiet, unostentatious manner. South Australia may well reverence and honour the memory of one who accomplished so much to form the characters and mould the thought and ideals of those who have taken a prominent part in framing the laws and deciding the lines upon which the political, commercial, intellectual, and religious institutions of the state should be conducted. As a preacher the late Archdeacon never attempted to soar into flights of oratory or to perplex his hearers by reading carefully prepared essays on subtle and profound theological dogma and doctrines. With him the simple Gospel was considered sufficient for the spiritual needs of the average hearer, and he always endeavoured to forget that he was a scholar, and suited his teaching to the vicissitudes and perplexities of the average human life rather than to the intellectual needs of the few whose minds might demand more substantial mental food. His favourite attitude when in the pulpit was to lean over the reading desk, and without the assistance of either manuscript or notes converse with rather than preach to his congregation.

He died at his residence in North Adelaide after some nine years of failing health.

Family

The deceased gentleman was married before he left England, and he found in his wife a willing and efficient helpmate in all charitable undertakings. For years she was in the forefront of all Anglican philanthropic movements. Mrs. Farr, who is a daughter of the late Sir Robert Ord, R.A., of Grimstead Hall, Essex, survives her husband, who has left a family of two sons — Mr. Lewis Farr, of Teatree Gully, and Dr. Coleridge Farr, of the Magnetic Observatory, Christchurch, New Zealand — and three daughters — Mrs. Hey Sharp (wife of Canon Sharp, warden of St. Paul's College, Sydney), and Misses Gertrude and Julia Farr.

Lewis' mother, Eleanora Elizabeth Farr (1847–1901), was the eldest daughter of ven. Archdeacon George Henry Farr (1819–1904), M.A., LL.D. and Julia Warren Ord.

References

Category:1819 births Category:1904 deaths Category:Australian Anglican priests Category:St Peter's College, Adelaide Category:St Peter's College