Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/216

 His name appears in the list of the members of the scientific society established in the newly erected university laboratory in 1682 (, Life, ed. Bliss, p. 258). As early as January 1687 Farmer was credited with being a ‘papist.’ His friends included Humphrey Brent of St. John's and Obadiah Walker of University College, who were avowed converts to Roman catholicism, and he was said to boast that through his pretended agreement with their views he anticipated preferment. Farmer's life did not grow less riotous as he advanced in age. The porter at Magdalen College deposed that he often let Farmer in at late hours and very drunk. Early in April 1687 he was reported to have engaged in a drunken frolic at Abingdon, and to have thrown the town stocks into Madman's Pool. Meanwhile a new distinction was in store for him. On 24 March 1686–7 Henry Clarke, president of Magdalen College, died, and on 5 April 1687 James II sent down his mandate to the college directing the fellows to elect Farmer to the vacant place. This infringement of the fellows' privileges, especially when the character of the king's nominee was known, roused very warm resentment. The visitor, the Bishop of Winchester, wrote that the appointment was directly contrary to the statutes, seeing that Farmer was not, and had never been, a fellow of the college. On 9 April the fellows petitioned the king to allow them to exercise their full rights, and denounced Farmer as ‘in several respects uncapable.’ On 15 April the fellows elected John Hough, and on 7 May Dr. Aldworth, the vice-president, drew up a list of ‘reasons against Mr. Farmer,’ in which he was declared to be ‘a person of no good fame,’ and ‘a stranger wholly unacquainted and unexperienced in the affairs of the college.’ These ‘reasons’ were expanded on 27 June 1687 into a long list of serious charges, which were placed with proofs before the high court of commission meeting at Oxford to inquire into the contumacy of the fellows. Farmer prepared a written reply, 1 July, denying many of the charges and palliating others. On 29 July he was summoned before Lord-chancellor Jeffreys, the presiding commissioner, who decided that the charges were true, and that ‘the court looked upon him as a very bad man.’ On 14 Aug. a royal mandate directed the fellows to elect as their president Samuel Parker, bishop of Oxford. Nothing further is known of Farmer.

[Dr. Bloxam's Magdalen Coll. and James II (Oxf. Hist. Soc.), p. 12 note and passim; Cartwright's Diary (Camd. Soc.); An Impartial Relation of the whole Proceedings against St. Mary Magdalen Colledge in Oxon. in 1687, 1688; see also ; ; .]  FARMER, GEORGE (1732–1779), captain in the navy, born in 1732, was son of John Farmer, of a Northamptonshire family settled at Youghal in Ireland, a collateral branch of the Fermors, the earls of Pomfret, extinct in 1867. He went to sea at an early age in the merchant service, and afterwards, entering the navy, served as a midshipman of the Dreadnought with Captain Maurice Suckling [q. v.] in the West Indies, and in the Achilles, on the home station, with the Hon. Samuel Barrington [q. v.] In May 1759 he was promoted to be lieutenant of the Aurora frigate, in which he served till January 1761 on the home station. He was then placed on half-pay, and settled for the time in Norwich, where he had been previously employed on the impress service, and where he now married. In 1766 he is said to have given valuable assistance in suppressing a dangerous riot there, and to have been promoted to the rank of commander in May 1768, in consequence of the representations of the local magistrates. He had, however, no active employment till September 1769, when he was appointed to the Swift sloop. In her he went out to the Falkland Islands, where, on his arrival in the following March, he found that the Spaniards, having established themselves at Port Solidad, had sent to Port Egmont, peremptorily ordering the English to quit the settlement. As there was no English force to resist any aggression, the senior officer, Captain Hunt, determined to go to England with the news, leaving Farmer in command. A few days later the Swift sailed for a cruise round the islands; but in a violent gale was blown over to the coast of Patagonia, and in attempting to go into Port Desire struck on a rock, and was utterly lost. The crew escaped to the shore, but being entirely destitute Farmer despatched the cutter to Port Egmont with orders to the only remaining ship, the Favourite, to come to their relief. On 16 April they arrived safely at Port Egmont. On 4 June a Spanish frigate anchored in the harbour; she was presently followed by four others, and the commandant wrote to Farmer that, having with him fourteen hundred troops and a train of artillery, he was in a position to compel the English to quit, if they hesitated any longer. Farmer replied that he should defend himself to the best of his power; but resistance against such an overwhelming force could be nothing more than complimentary, and accordingly when the Spaniards landed, Farmer, after firing his guns, capitulated on terms, an inventory of the stores being taken, and the English 