Archdeacon Farr

The Ven. George Henry Farr, M.A., LL.D. (2 July 1819 – 7 February 1904) was an Anglican priest in South Australia; headmaster of St. Peter's College from 1854 to 1879.

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 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. He had in 1846 married Julia Warren Ord (1824–1914), a daughter of Sir Robert Hutchinson Ord, of Grimstead Hall, Essex, and their eldest daughter Eleanora (1847–1901) was suffering consumption, and it was hoped a warmer drier climate would benefit her health. They left Plymouth on 8 April 1854 and arrived in Adelaide aboard Daylesford in July 1854. 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. Among those he influenced were Sir Denzil Ibbetson, Ven. Archdeacon W. J. Bussell, Rev. C. Hornabrook, George Leake (Premier of Western Australia), Sir John C. Bray; Sir John Downer, Dr. E. C. Stirling, Sir Lancelot Stirling, Dr. W. B. Blue; Sir Richard Butler, J. S. O'Halloran, T. J. S. O'Halloran (father of T. S. O'Halloran), and A. Buchanan.

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