Frederic William Farrar (Bombay, 7 August 1831 –

Canterbury Canterbury (, ) is a cathedral city and UNESCO World Heritage Site, situated in the heart of the City of Canterbury local government district of Kent, England. It lies on the River Stour. The Archbishop of Canterbury is the primate of ...

, 22 March 1903) was a cleric of the

Church of England The Church of England (C of E) is the established Christian church in England and the mother church of the international Anglican Communion. It traces its history to the Christian church recorded as existing in the Roman province of Britai ...

( Anglican), schoolteacher and author. He was a pallbearer at the funeral of

Charles Darwin Charles Robert Darwin ( ; 12 February 1809 – 19 April 1882) was an English naturalist, geologist, and biologist, widely known for his contributions to evolutionary biology. His proposition that all species of life have descended ...

in 1882. He was a member of the

Cambridge Apostles The Cambridge Apostles (also known as ''Conversazione Society'') is an intellectual society at the University of Cambridge founded in 1820 by George Tomlinson, a Cambridge student who became the first Bishop of Gibraltar.W. C. Lubenow, ''The Ca ...

secret society. He was the Archdeacon of Westminster from 1883 to 1894, and Dean of Canterbury Cathedral from 1895 until his death in 1903.

Biography

Farrar was born in

Bombay Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second-m ...

, India, and educated at

King William's College King William's College (nicknamed KWC or King Bill's; gv, Colleish Ree Illiam) is an independent school for pupils aged 3 to 18, located near Castletown on the Isle of Man. It is a member of the International Baccalaureate and Headmasters' and ...

on the

Isle of Man ) , anthem = "O Land of Our Birth" , image = Isle of Man by Sentinel-2.jpg , image_map = Europe-Isle_of_Man.svg , mapsize = , map_alt = Location of the Isle of Man in Europe , map_caption = Location of the Isle of Man (green) in Europe ...

, King's College London and

Trinity College, Cambridge Trinity College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, Trinity is one of the largest Cambridge colleges, with the largest financial endowment of any college at either Cambridge or Oxford. ...

. At Cambridge he won the

Chancellor's Gold Medal The Chancellor's Gold Medal is a prestigious annual award at Cambridge University for poetry, paralleling Oxford University's Newdigate Prize. It was first presented by Prince William Frederick, Duke of Gloucester and Edinburgh during his time as ...

for poetry in 1852. He was for some years a master at Harrow School and, from 1871 to 1876, the headmaster of Marlborough College. Farrar spent much of his career associated with

Westminster Abbey Westminster Abbey, formally titled the Collegiate Church of Saint Peter at Westminster, is an historic, mainly Gothic church in the City of Westminster, London, England, just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is one of the Unite ...

. He was successively a canon there, rector of St Margaret's (the church next door), archdeacon of the Abbey. He later served as

Dean of Canterbury The Dean of Canterbury is the head of the Chapter of the Cathedral of Christ Church, Canterbury, England. The current office of Dean originated after the English Reformation, although Deans had also existed before this time; its immediate precur ...

; and chaplain in ordinary, i.e. attached to the Royal Household. He was an eloquent preacher and a voluminous author, his writings including stories of school life, such as '' Eric, or, Little by Little'' and ''St. Winifred's'' about life in a boys' boarding school in late Victorian England, and two historical romances. Farrar was a classics scholar and a comparative philologist, who applied

's ideas of branching descent to the relationships between languages, engaging in a protracted debate with the anti-Darwinian linguist

Max Müller Friedrich Max Müller (; 6 December 1823 – 28 October 1900) was a German-born philologist and Orientalist, who lived and studied in Britain for most of his life. He was one of the founders of the western academic disciplines of Indian ...

. While Farrar was never convinced by the evidence for evolution in biology, he had no theological objections to the idea and urged that it be considered on purely scientific grounds. On Darwin's nomination, Farrar was elected to the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in 1866 for his philological work. When Darwin died in 1882, Farrar helped get the church's permission for him to be buried in Westminster Abbey and preached the sermon at his funeral. Farrar's religious writings included ''Life of Christ'' (1874), which had great popularity, and ''Life of St. Paul'' (1879). He also contributed two volumes to the commentary series The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges, on the Gospel according to St. Luke, and on the Epistle to the Hebrews. His works were translated into many languages, especially ''Life of Christ''. Farrar believed that some could be saved after death. He originated the term "

abominable fancy The term "abominable fancy" was first used by Frederic Farrar for the long-standing Christian idea that the eternal punishment of the damned in Hell entertains the saved in Heaven. According to Philip C. Almond, this view was held by several C ...

" for the longstanding Christian idea that the eternal punishment of the damned would entertain the saved. Farrar published ''Eternal Hope'' in 1878 and ''Mercy and Judgment'' in 1881, both of which defend his position on hell at length.F. W. Farrar.
Mercy and Judgment
'. 1881. Farrar was accused of

universalism Universalism is the philosophical and theological concept that some ideas have universal application or applicability. A belief in one fundamental truth is another important tenet in universalism. The living truth is seen as more far-reaching th ...

, but he denies this belief with great certainty. In 1877 Farrar in an introduction to five sermons he wrote, in the preface he attacks the idea that he holds to universalism. He also dismisses any accusation from those who would say otherwise. He says, "I dare not lay down any dogma of Universalism, partly because it is impossible for us to estimate the hardening effect obstinate persistence in evil, and the power of the human will to resist the love of God.""Eternal Hope" by Rev. Frederic W. Farrar,(New York:E.P. Dutton & Company, 1878), xvi and xxi. In April 1882, he was one of ten pallbearers at the funeral of

in Westminster Abbey; the others were: The Duke of Devonshire, The Duke of Argyll, The Earl of Derby, Mr. J. Russell Lowell, Mr. W. Spottiswoode, Sir Joseph Hooker, Mr. A. R. Wallace, Professor Huxley, and Sir John Lubbock.

Family

On 1 August 1860 at St Leonard's Church, Exeter, he married Lucy Mary Cardew; they had five sons and five daughters: * Reginald Anstruther Farrar (1861-) * Evelyn Lucy Farrar (1862-) * Hilda Cardew Farrar (1863-1908) * Maud Farrar (1864-1949) * Eric Maurice Farrar (1866-) * Sibyl Farrar (1867-) * Cyril Lytton Farrar (1869-) * Lilian Farrar (1870-) * Frederic Percival Farrar (1871-1946) * Ivor Granville Farrar (1874-1944) (born Bernard Farrar) The first eight were born at Harrow; the last two were born at Marlborough. The second daughter, Hilda, was married in 1881 to John Stafford Northcote, vicar of St Andrew's, Westminster. He was the third son of

Stafford Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh Stafford Henry Northcote, 1st Earl of Iddesleigh (27 October 1818 – 12 January 1887), known as Sir Stafford Northcote, Bt from 1851 to 1885, was a British Conservative politician. He served as Chancellor of the Exchequer between 1874 and 18 ...

and their son Henry succeeded as third Earl in 1927. Farrar allowed his third daughter, Maud, to become engaged to Henry Montgomery at 14 and marry at 16. Farrar was then archdeacon of St Margaret's and Montgomery was the curate; Montgomery went on to become Bishop of Tasmania. Their children included the World War II hero "Monty", Field Marshal The 1st Viscount Montgomery of Alamein. Farrar's son Reginald published his biography in 1902. Farrar died on 22 March 1903, and was buried in the cloister of the Canterbury Cathedral. Farrar has a street named after him – Dean Farrar Street in

Westminster Westminster is an area of Central London, part of the wider City of Westminster. The area, which extends from the River Thames to Oxford Street, has many visitor attractions and historic landmarks, including the Palace of Westminster, B ...

, London. There is also a memorial to him at the church of St Margaret's, Westminster by the sculptor

Nathaniel Hitch Nathaniel Hitch (1845–1938) was a British sculptor. As a young man, he became an apprentice sculptor journeyman and after studying at the Borough Polytechnic and experience working alongside architectural sculptors, he developed a career ...

Works

''An Essay on the Origin of Language''
(1860)
''Chapters on Language''
(1865)
''Life of Christ''
(1874)
''Eternal Hope''
(1878) * The Vow of the Nazarite (1879)
''Mercy and Judgement''
(1881)
''Life and Works of St. Paul''
(1879)
''History of Interpretation''
(1886)
''Lives of the Fathers'' Volume 1
(1889)
''Lives of the Fathers'' Volume 2
(1889) * ''The Gospel According to St Luke'' Volume 40 in the Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (1891) * ''The Epistle of Paul to the Hebrews'' Volume 65 in The Cambridge Bible for Schools and Colleges (1891)
''The Voice from Sinai''
(1892) * ''The Bible: Its Meaning and Supremacy'' (1897) * The Early Days of Christianity (1882)

Fiction

* '' Eric, or Little by Little'', a school story (1858)
''Julian Home''
a college story (1859)
''St Winifred's, or The World of School''
(1862)
''Darkness and Dawn, or Scenes in the Days of Nero''
(1891)
''Gathering Clouds: A Tale of the Days of St. Chrysostom''
(1895) Truths to live by (1890)

Notes

References

;Attribution * *

External links

* *
Frederic William Farrar papers, 1825-1904
at Pitts Theology Library,

Candler School of Theology Candler School of Theology is one of seven graduate schools at Emory University, located in metropolitan Atlanta, Georgia. A university-based school of theology, Candler educates ministers, scholars of religion and other leaders. It is also o ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Farrar, Frederic William 1831 births 1903 deaths Deans of Canterbury Archdeacons of Westminster Alumni of King's College London People educated at King William's College Fellows of the Royal Society Canons of Westminster English Christian theologians Chaplains-in-Ordinary Masters of Marlborough College