Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 18.djvu/234

 book of words printed at York by Mason, the name of Farrant appears, it would seem for the first time in print, though Dean Aldrich, in a copy belonging to him, erased the name of Hilton, and replaced it by that of Farrant. The anthem itself first appeared in print as Farrant's in Page's ‘Harmonia Sacra,’ 1800. An ingenious theory concerning the origin of the anthem is propounded by the Rev. J. H. Sperling in vol. iii. of the ‘Parish Choir’ (quoted in Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iii. 273), to the effect that it was composed during the civil war by some musician who did not live to see the Restoration. In the great demand for music which that event brought about it would be copied out anonymously, and subsequently attributed to Farrant. The genuine works of Farrant are as follows: A service (full morning and evening) given by Tudway in A minor, and called ‘Farrant's High Service’ (it exists also in manuscript at Ely, and in the Peterhouse Library, Cambridge; it is published by Boyce in G minor, ‘Cath. Mus.’ vol. i.); two anthems, ‘Call to Remembrance,’ and ‘Hide not Thou thy face,’ which were usually sung on Maundy Thursday, on the occasion of the distribution of the queen's royal bounty. These are given in vol. ii. of Boyce's collection. The Royal College of Music possesses some odd parts of another morning and evening service in F, and an alto part of a Te Deum and Benedictus is in Addit. MS. 29289. Two other musicians of the name are mentioned, and are supposed to have been related to Farrant. A Daniel Farrant, probably a son, is mentioned in the State Papers of 1607 as receiving 46l. per annum as one of the king's musicians for the violins. He is said by Anthony à Wood, Hawkins, and others to have been one of the first to set lessons for the viol ‘lyra-way,’ after the manner of the old English lute or bandora. Wood (MS. Notes, Bodleian) says: ‘Dr. Rogers tells me that one Mr. Farrant, an able man, was organist of (qu. Peterboro'?) before the rebellion broke out.’ This is probably the John Farrant, or one of the John Farrants, of whom traces are found at various cathedrals. One of that name was organist of Ely in 1567–1572. The name occurs again as that of an organist of Hereford from 22 March 1592 to 24 Dec. 1593, who ‘was sconced for railing and contumelious speeches to Mr. Custos in the hall at supper time.’ Hawkins says that there were two John Farrants, who were organists at Salisbury and Christ Church, Newgate Street, about 1600. It is by no means impossible that these may be one person of nomadic tendencies. To him, or to one of his namesakes, if the other supposition is preferred, must be ascribed the anthem given by Tudway ‘O Lord Almighty,’ since by no stretch of imagination could Richard Farrant be described as ‘Mr. Farrant who lived in K. Ch. I's time.’ The short service in D Dorian, manuscripts of which are extant at Ely Cathedral and Peterhouse, and which is published in ‘Ouseley Cathedral Music,’ 1853, is by the earlier John Farrant, organist of Ely.

[Cheque Book of the Chapel Royal; Grove's Dict. i. 507; Hawkins's Hist. (1853), p. 465; Wood's MS. Notes in Bodleian, communicated by Mr. W. Barclay Squire; Calendar of State Papers, 1607; Cunningham's Extracts from the Accounts of the Revels at Court, &c. (Shakespeare Soc. 1842), p. xxix; Bull's Christian Prayers and Meditations (Parker Soc. 1842); Clifford's Divine Anthems, &c., 1664; Notes and Queries, 3rd ser. iii. 273, 417; Havergal's Fasti Herefordenses; Bemrose's Chant Book; Imp. Dict. of Univ. Biog.; Brit. Mus. MSS. as above.] 

FARRAR, JOHN (1802–1884), president of the Wesleyan methodist conference, third and youngest son of the Rev. John Farrar, Wesleyan minister, who died in 1837, was born at Alnwick, Northumberland, 29 July 1802. On the opening of Woodhouse Grove school, Yorkshire, for the education of the sons of ministers, on 12 Jan. 1812 he became one of the first pupils. On leaving school he was employed as a teacher in an academy conducted by Mr. Green at Cottingham, near Hull. In August 1822 he entered the Wesleyan ministry, and spent his four years of probation as second-master in Woodhouse Grove school. He afterwards was resident minister successively at Sheffield, Huddersfield, Macclesfield, and London, until in 1839 he was appointed tutor and governor of Abney House Training College, Stoke Newington, London. In 1843 he became classical tutor at the Wesleyan Theological Institution at Richmond, Surrey, where he spent fourteen years. As governor and chaplain he returned to Woodhouse Grove school in 1858, where under his firm rule the discipline and moral tone of the school were much improved. On the foundation of Headingley College, Leeds, in 1868, he became the first governor, and retained the chair until failing health compelled his retirement in 1876. During his residence here the jubilee of his ministry occurred, when he was presented with an organ for the college, where a marble bust of himself now preserves the memory of his connection with the institution. In 1854 the Wesleyan conference, appreciating his administrative qualities, elected him president of the conference held at Birmingham, and on the occasion of the Burslem conference in