Author: Farmer, J. B.
Biography:
FARMER, J. B. (fl 1824)
An Essay on Liberty, and Other Poems was published in London in 1824, the author identified only by the initials J. B. F. At the time, the Literary Chronicle reviewer guessed that the author was young and condescendingly speculated that the poems, "printed, we presume, for private circulation rather than for sale . . . would do no discredit to more practised poets." The British Museum catalogue of 1887 first supplied the surname "Farmer." Public records and internal evidence--a love poem addressed to "Fanny" and a birthday poem for "Emily"--make the most likely candidate John Biker Farmer (1800-26). He was baptised on 11 Dec. 1800 at Madresfield, Worcestershire, the son of William and Sarah Farmer. The date of their marriage and the wife's maiden name are as yet unknown. They also had a daughter Emily Charlotte, born on 15 Sept. 1802 and baptised on 15 Oct. at St. George’s Hanover Square, Westminster, London. Nothing is known of John Biker Farmer's education but he worked as a clerk at the East India Office in London from 1815 to 1826. He married Frances Ann Frost (1805-1877) on 24 Dec. 1823 at Saint Marylebone, Westminster. They went on to have three children: the twins Alexander (1824-69), who became a painter, and Frances (1824-94) in 1824; and Emily (1826-1905), who also became a painter after receiving early instruction from her brother. John Biker Farmer died in late Oct. 1826 and was buried on 1 Nov. at the Hampstead Road burial ground of St. James’s, Piccadilly. His wife survived him and is recorded in the 1841 and 1851 censuses living with her three children at Mornington Place, Regent's Park, London, before the family moved sometime before 1861 to Porchester, Southampton, Hampshire. She died there on 18 Mar. 1877, leaving an estate of £1000 administered by her daughter Frances. (ancestry.co.uk 13 Dec. 2025; findmypast.co.uk 13 Dec. 2025; "Farmer, Emily" ODNB 13 Dec. 2025; Literary Chronicle 6 Mar. 1824, 152; Hampshire Telegraph 24 Mar. 1877, 13 May 1905; The East-India Register and Directory [various issues, 1815-26]) AA