of his ever ready, spontaneous, thoroughly hearty, and most musical laugh. Through life his capacity for work, and his complete absorption therein, combined with the rare but invaluable capacity for putting it aside when he left his study, was alike the source of astonishment and admiration among his friends.’ His mind was large and open, he was a wide reader, an accomplished linguist, and a genuine lover of the best art and literature. He took a broad and liberal view of all social and political problems.
Farr married as his second wife, in 1842, Miss M. E. Whittall, who died in 1876. By her he had eight children, five of whom survived him, a son, an officer in the royal navy, and four daughters. Before his death a fund of 1,132l. had been raised in recognition of his services, and invested for the benefit of his three unmarried daughters; after his death government contributed 400l. to the fund, and it was increased to 1,734l. A committee of the Statistical Society undertook to publish a selection of Farr's statistical works, with Mr. Noel A. Humphreys as editor. This appeared in 1885, under the title of ‘Vital Statistics,’ with a portrait of Farr. It is divided into five parts, dealing respectively with population, marriages, births, deaths, life-tables, and miscellaneous subjects, thus constituting a standard statistical work.
Farr contributed many papers to the ‘Lancet’ from 1835 onward. In the ‘British Medical Almanack’ there appeared in 1836 a chronological history of medicine to 1453, with many medical and mortality statistics; in the same almanack for 1837 this matter was given in a briefer form, and brought down to 1836. Much of Farr's work was issued in ‘Reports of the Registrar-General,’ 1839–80. Other of his papers are entitled ‘Letters on the Causes of Death in England;’ ‘Medical Guide to Nice,’ 1841; ‘The Mortality of Lunatics’ (‘Journal of Statistical Society’), 1841; ‘Influence of Scarcities and of the Prices of Wheat on the Mortality of the People of England’ (ib.), 1846; ‘English Life-tables,’ No. 1, 1843, in ‘Registrar-General's Fifth Annual Report;’ ‘English Life-tables,’ No. 2, 1853, in ‘Twelfth Annual Report;’ ‘English Life-tables,’ No. 3, 1864, published separately under the title, ‘Tables of Lifetimes, Annuities, and Premiums, with an Introduction by William Farr;’ ‘Report on the Mortality from Cholera in England in 1848–9,’ 1852; ‘On the Construction of Life-tables, illustrated by a new life-table of the healthy districts of England’ (‘Phil. Trans.,’ 1859); ‘Reports on the English Mortality Statistics,’ 1841–50, 1851–60, 1861–70; ‘Memorandum for the Guidance of the Chancellor of the Exchequer in the development of the Post Office Insurance Scheme,’ 1865; ‘Report on the Cholera Epidemic of 1866.’ In addition, the Reports and Proceedings of the British Association, and the Social Science Association include many papers by Farr.
[Biographical notice, by F. A. C. Hare, 16 pages, 1883; Biographical sketch, by Noel A. Humphreys, prefixed to Farr's Vital Statistics, 1885; Lancet, 5 May 1883, p. 800; Times, 16, 18, 23 April 1883.]
FARRANT, RICHARD (fl. 1564–1580), composer, is said, in the list of composers given in Novello's ‘Words of Anthems’ (1888), to have been born in 1530, but as no authority is given for the statement it cannot be taken as decisive. He was a gentleman of the Chapel Royal for some time previously to 1564, when he resigned his appointment on becoming organist and master of the choristers at St. George's Chapel, Windsor. This post he held, with a salary of 81l. 6s. 8d. and a ‘dwelling-house within the castle, called the Old Commons,’ until 1569, when, on 5 Nov., he was reinstated in the Chapel Royal, succeeding Thomas Causton. While at Windsor, on Shrove Tuesday, and again on St. John's day, 1568, he presented a play before the queen, receiving on each occasion 6l. 13s. 4d. Under date 30 Nov. 1580 an entry occurs in the ‘Cheque Book’ of the chapel, to the effect that Anthony Tod was appointed a gentleman on the death of Richard Farrant. As the same entry is repeated under date 30 Nov. 1581, the value of this testimony is considerably weakened. It is probable that he resigned his post on one of these two dates, and returned, as Hawkins says, to Windsor, where he died in 1585, and was succeeded by Nathaniel Giles [q. v.]
His name is chiefly known in connection with the anthem, ‘Lord, for thy tender mercies' sake,’ one of the most beautiful compositions of its kind, and a ‘single chant,’ apparently adapted from the first phrase of the anthem. It is fairly certain, however, from evidence both internal and external, that the authorship cannot be claimed for him. In the part books at Ely Cathedral and Tudway's collection (Harl. MSS. 7337–42) it is attributed to ‘Mr. Hilton’ (Mr. Oliphant has added the name of Farrant in pencil). The words, which appear first in Lydley's ‘Prayers,’ are printed in the second edition of Clifford's ‘Divine Services and Anthems,’ 1664, but with the name of Tallis attached as composer. In 1703 the words again appear in Thomas Wanless's ‘Full Anthems and Verse Anthems’ (York), with no composer's name. In 1782, in another
