Author: Farrer, John
Biography:
FARRER, John (1758/9-1820: ancestry.co.uk)
He was probably born in Orton, Westmoreland, the son of Thomas Farrer (1733-1774) and his wife Anne Greenhow who had married at Orton, 2 May 1757. He went to Queen’s College Oxford, matriculating in 1776, aged 17, proceeding to BA in 1796 and MA in 1797. He was first appointed Curate at Oundle in 1786 where he also advertised the opening of a school in 1790. He then moved to St. Giles, Reading, before being rewarded with a London parish and ending his career as Rector of St Clement Eastcheap and St Martin, Ongar (1803-1820). He wrote A Selection of Hebrew Poems, Translated (Kendal 1780), America, a poem (1780) and The Trial of Abraham, a Dramatic Poem (1790). He also published two series of lectures: Sermons on the Parables (1802) which were delivered at St. Giles, Reading, and Sermons on the Mission and Character of Christ, and the Beatitudes (1804), his Bampton Lectures at Oxford. He also wrote Memoir of the Late Rev. John Ferrar [1735-1808] (1811, re-edited 1844), about an uncle who was curate and schoolmaster at Witton-le-Wear and a friend of John Langhorne (q.v.). He died on 5 Oct. 1820 and was buried in Stoke Newington. (ancestry.co.uk 28 Sept. 2020; Northampton Mercury 9 and 30 Jan. 1790; Public Ledger 13 Oct. 1820; Sermons; Memoir) AA