| Birth | Austin Farmar was born 1845 in Dover, Kent, England. |
| INFO | CIV REG INDEX Birth. Austin Farmar DecQ 1845. Dover V,122. (GBCivRegInd LDS6101947.) |
| INFO | OXFORD EXAMINATIONS. Dover Express, 1 Aug 1863, p.2 Local Intelligence. "Oxford Local Examinations. --We are gratified to observe in the list of the names of senior candidates who obtained title of "associate of arts," at the recent Oxford Local Examinations, that of Austin Farmar, son of our townsman, Mr. W. Farmar, of York Street." (DovExpresFMP) -also DoverTelegraph, 1 Aug 1863. |
| INFO | LONDON UNIVERSITY. Dover Express, 4 Feb 1865. "In the January matriculation of the London University appears under the head of "First Division," the name of Mr. A. Farmar, son of Mr. W. Farmar, of Dover." (DoverExprFMP.) |
| INFO | KENT COUNCIL BMD INDEX. Austin Farmar. 1870 marriage, entry 135, register D/23/6 Thanet and Dover; date 1870-01-06. (KenCounBMD.) |
| Marriage | He married Elizabeth Fertel 6 January 1870 in Kent, England. |
| INFO | AD FOR SCHOOL. Dover Express, 21 Jan 1870. "Mr. and Mrs. Austin Farmar (Miss Fertel) undertake the entire education of young gentlemen, or their training for the various Public and High Schools. Mr. Austin Farmar, as also his father Mr. W. Farmer of 5, Townwall Street, instruct students for the Legal, Medical, Pharmaceutical, Military, Naval, Middle Class, University and Civil Service Examinations. They are accustomed to receive or visit pupils whose parents wish they should prosecute Voluntary Studies during their Vacation. 17, Castle Street, Dover." (DoverExprFMP.) |
| INFO | CIV REG INDEX Marriage. MarQ 1870. Austin Farmar. Dover, 2a,979. (GBCivRegInd LDS6102630.) |
| INFO | AD FOR SCHOOL. Dover Express, 16 Dec 1870, page 2. An ad for Mr. Farmar's school at 17, Castle Street, Dover, was published in the French language. (DoverExprFMP.) |
| INFO | CENSUS 1871 (2 Apr 1871). Kent, Dover, St. James, #104, 17 Castle Street. Austin Farmer, head, mar, 25, schoolmaster, b.Kent Dover. Elizt, wife, mar, 33, b. United States British Sub. Una Farmer, dau, 3 mo. b.Kent Dover. Sarah Fertel, widow, mother-in-law, wid, 62, b.London. Charlotte Tharp, servant, unm, 19, servant, b.Kent Nonington. (GBCens1871 LDS0827259, E.D.7, p.24(70L.)) |
| INFO | KENT COUNCIL BMD INDEX. Austin Farmar. 1872 marriage, entry 249, register 62/1 Canterbury and Swale; date 1872-12-19. (KenCounBMD.) |
| Marriage | Austin Farmar married Lucy Augusta Brown, daughter of Elizabeth ...?..., 19 December 1872 in Kent, England. |
| INFO | CIV REG INDEX Marriage. Austin Farmar. DecQ,1872. Canterbury 2a,1192. (GBCivRegInd LDS6102638.) |
| INFO | INDEX REF. Austin Farmar 17 Castle Street Dover. School Advert page xix in 1875 Sinnock Directory. (EKPI 379,27Jun01.) |
| INFO | INDEX REF. Austin Farmar Junior. Private school. 17 Castle Street Dover in PO Directory 1878. (EKPI 379,27Jun01.) |
| INFO | VOTER LISTS. Castle Ward Dover St. James. Farmar, Austin as freeman and occupier. 17 Castle street. (DovParlVot LDS1656693-95.) |
| INFO | CENSUS 1881 (3 Apr 1881). Kent St. James Dover, 17 Castle St. Austin Farmar, head, mar, 35, Private Schoolmaster. Undergraduate of London University, b. Kent Dover. Wife Lucy A., mar, 40, b. Kent Canterbury. Daur Una, 10, Scholar. Son Egbert, 5, Scholar. Son Owen, 4, Scholar. Daur Edith, 4, Scholar. Son Leo, 3, Scholar. Daur Hetty, 1. All children b. Kent Dover. (GBCens1881 RG11/1001 94:22.) |
| INFO | DIRECTORY 1882. Dover commercial section: Farmar, Austin preparatory school for the sons of gentlemen, 17 Castle st (KellyKen1882, p.177.) |
| INFO | VOTER LIST. 1882 Dover, Parish of St. James. #1887 Farmar, Austin; abode: Castle street; nature of qualification: house at 17 Castle street. (DovParlReg82, p.50.) |
| INFO | INDEX REF to Austin Farmer 1 Castle St, Dover. Small ad: Book-keeping taught. in Dover Chronicle 5 Jan 1884 p.4(1). (EKPI 379,27Jun2001.) |
| INFO | INDEX REF. Austin Farmar, School for young gentlemen. 17 Castle St, Dover. Ad in Dover Telegraph p.l(3) 4Jan 1888. (EKPI 379,27Jun2001.) |
| INFO | PROBATE of father's will (written 1887, proved 1889). Austin given house at 50 York Street Dover and proceeds of a life insurance policy. Brother Flavius given £20. Value of estate £177.4.9. (PPRWillsDist LDS1471584-10 Canterbury Oct 1889.) |
| INFO | DIRECTORY. Kelly's Directory 1890 lists Dover resident Farmar, Austin; employment: boys' school; residence: 17 Castle street. (KellyKen1890, p.225.) |
| INFO | CENSUS 1891 (5 Apr 1891). Dover St. James. #126, 17 Castle St. Austin Farmar, head, marr, age 45, schoolmaster. He and all in family b. Kent Dover. Wife Lucy A., marr, age 51. Children Edith, dtr, 14; Owen, son, 14; Leo, son 13; Hetty, dtr 11. Also Susan Elcome, servant, sing, 15, general dom. servant, birthplace unk. (GBCens1891 LDS6095851 Dover St. James p.106.) |
| INFO | NEWSPAPER AD. Dover Express, 15 Apr 1892, p.4. MR. AUSTIN FARMAR / PREPARES / Young Boys for the Public Schools. / Long and Successful experience. / Highest Testimonials / 17, Castle Street, Dover. (DovExpresFMP.) |
| INFO | DIRECTORY 1895. Dover commercial section: Farmar, Austin boys' school, 17 Castle st. (KellyKen1895.) |
| INFO | DIRECTORY 1899. Dover commercial, Farmar, Austin boys' school, 17 Castle st (KellyKen1899.) |
| INFO | COURT CASE. Newspaper report in the Dover Express, 12 January 1900, page 6. Burough Magistrates' Court yesterday. "The defendant was Austin Farmar, a schoolmaster of Castle Street, who was summoned on the information of John W. Watts that on the 9th of January he violently assaulted and beat him. The defendant pleaded, after some hesitation, 'Not Guilty.' Mr. Martyn Mowll appeared for the prosecution and said that from the evidence he should put before the Bench as to the occurrance, which happened on Tuesday afternoon about half-past three, they would be of opinion either that an unprovoked assault was committed on Mr. Watt by a man responsible for his actions or else that Mr. Farmar was not responsible, and that they ought to enquire as to whether he was fit to be at large." Details of the difficult and contentious court proceedings are presented in the newspaper under the title "A Sensatonal Case." At the end of the session, Mr. Farmar was remanded in custody till the next day. (DoverExprFMP.) |
| INFO | NEWSPAPER REPORT. Dover Express, 12 Jan 1900, p.5. Mr. Austin Farmar's Case. This Day. At the Dover Police Court this morning, Mr. Austin Farmar, who was remanded in custody yesterday, on a charge of assault, was brought up and taken into a private room, where the certificates of Dr. Ormsby and Dr. Wood were given, certifying that he was not in a condition to be at large; and an order was made by the Magistrates for his removal to an asylum. (DovExpresFMP.) |
| INFO | CENSUS 1901 (31 Mar 1901). Kent, Maidstone, 11 Bauer [?] St. Austin Farmer, head, mar, 55, florist, worker, b. Kent, Dover. (note at same addr, sep. household George Thorpe, 68, gardener, & large family). (GBCens1901 RG13/768:107:24.) |
| INFO | ADVERTISEMENT for the Synonyms book published before the title page of the Correspondences book. 1904. "Place-Name Synonyms Classified -Square demy 8vo. 231 pages. Cloth. Net 4s (post free, 4s. 4d.) The plan is: an arrangement according to the ideas involved: first of inanimate objects, and then of the animate world up to man and his activities. To this there follow two Indexes--one to the elements in each word (of which in most place-names there are two), and another to the idea involved in each of the two elements, so that the work furnishes a most convenient and ready thesaurus of the names of places." (AustinBkDig.) |
| Exhibit | EXHIBIT. Sample pages from the 1904 book by Austin Farmar: Place-Name Correspondences. Title page, preface (2 pages), Contents, page2 , page 20. page 78. (AustinBkDig.)  |
| INFO | AUTHOR of two books on place names published in 1904: 1) Place-name Synonyms Classified by Austin Farmar. Publisher - London: David Nutt, 57-59 Long Acre. Preface dated June 1904, Cliftonville House, Margate [Kent]. 2) Place-Name Correspondences arranged by Austin Farmar, same publisher as above. (PlaceSynon; PlaceCorres.) |
| Exhibit | EXHIBIT. Sample pages from the 1904 book by Austin Farmar: Place-Name Synonyms Classified. Title page, preface (2 pages), synopsis, page1 (Place-Name Synonyms), page 119 (Index to Root Elements), page 219 (Index to Interpretations). (AustinBkDig.) |
| INFO | WITNESS 19 Sep 1907 for marr. of dtr Hetty to Ernest John Baker. Austin is a retired schoolmaster. (GBCertMarONS.) |
| INFO | RESIDENCE in Margate when wife's will was made 22 May 1908. (PPRWills LDS1894781.) |
| INFO | CENSUS 1911 (2 Apr 1911) Thanet Kent census district. Austin Farmar, head, 65, "State-Ruined Private Day Schoolmaster" industry: "None for profit", born Kent Dover. Wife Lucy Augusta Farmar, 72, married 39 years, 6 chidren, 4 livng, born Kent Canterbury. Rooms in dwelling 9. Signed Austin Farmar 18 Trinity Square, Margate. (GBCens1911 RG14/4494, 458.) |
| Note | NOTE death of wife Lucy 1 Dec 1911. |
| Marriage | Austin Farmar married Sarah Vaughan Roberts 1913 in Surrey, England. |
| INFO | CIV REG INDEX Marriage. Sep Q,1913. Austin Farmar. spouse: Roberts. Richmond S 2a,1166. (FreeBMD.) |
| INFO | AUSTIN FARMAR AT KEW GARDEN from the book "In for a Penny" by Wilfrid Blunt. Published London: Hamish Hamilton, 1978. Complete direct quotation from pages 202-203. "By far the most extraordinary and persistent trouble-maker at Kew was a certain Mr Austin Farmar, a septaugenarian who haunted the place and pestered the staff for seven whole years (from 1917 to 1924) before Sir Arthur Hill, who succeeded Prain as Director in 1922, finally took him to court and had him permanently barred from the Gardens. Farmar was a well-informed but mentally unstable amateur botanist whose chief complaint was that more than three thousand plants in the Gardens and Houses were misnamed, and that the staff were a set of ignorant fools; that he was not wholly mistaken about the labels is confirmed by Prain's private admission that Farmar's corrections 'did serve a useful purpose'. Farmar's favourite technique was to attach himself to visitors and 'show them round'. Many of these, mistaking him for an official of the Gardens, were flattered by his attention and impressed by his knowledge; but his pomposity and melodramatic gesticulations sometimes provoked mirth, and on one occasion he wrote angrily to Prain to complain of a young gardener in the Palm House who 'mocked my actions as I described the growth of the "stem" in the Musa [banana]'. There were constant scenes, for Farmar never missed an opportunity of loudly denouncing the incompetence of a foreman, especially if he happened to be within earshot. Some 'accidentally' turned the hose on him; but Mr Raffill, of the Mexican House, overhearing himself described as 'a scoundrel, a liar and a scamp', a man who 'thinks he knows Latin', fetched a constable. Farmar shouted to Raffill, 'Come outside! You're in your own dung-heap here!' and unpleasantness inevitably ensued. There was another fracas in 1920, with a foreman named Van Houtten, that ended in a brawl during which Farmar alleged he was hosed, knocked down, and his shoulder so badly dislocated that he had to have hospital treatment under an anaesthetic. Prain established to his satisfaction that Farmar had been the aggressor; but, weakly, he still took no action beyond requesting the Ministry to provide him with a plain-clothes female detective (Why female?) He also asked whether he was empowered to prevent this menace from entering the Gardens; but Farmar had a season ticket with six months still to run, and the legal adviser to the Ministry said that this could not be revoked, even if the money was refunded. In January 1921, when Farmar applied for a new season ticket, his request was refused and his money returned. However, it made no difference; he simply paid his penny each day at the turnstile and continued his visits as before. Than came some unpleasantness over a small girl; bit it cannot have been very serious, and since the father refused to allow his daughter to give evidence in court it could not be followed up. The legal adviser wrote, 'I think we must get rid of this horrible old man, even at some risk of trouble'; but still nothing was done. Three years passed, and Farmar was being as awful as ever. In March 1924, after another scene, a new line of actlion was tried: Sir Arthur Hill, now in the driving seat, wrote to Mrs Farmar begging her to use her influence to stop her husband visiting the Gardens. He received a pathetic reply: she was in hospital undergoing a serious operation; the day on which the last scene had occurred was the anniversary of the death of her husband's beloved first wife. For the past ten years she had done all she could for the poor old man, who was now eighty. Why could not Kew stop persecuting him? At last, after yet another row in the Temperate House, a summons was applied for, and in spite of the evidence of a Twickenham magistrate that in his opinion the defendant 'knew more about the plants in Kew Gardens than all the officials put together', Farmar was found guilty of 'wilfully annoying persons lawfully using the Gardens', fined £2 with ten shillings costs and ordered to keep away. When, six weeks later, he attempted to slip through the turnstiles, he was prevented from entering. Kew never saw him again." (InForAPenny pp.202-203.) |
| INFO | KEW GARDEN CASE. Dover Express, 2 May 1924, p.12. "Austin Farmar, of Beaumont Avenue, Richmond, formerly of Dover. . . a 79-years-old botanist, was summoned at Richmond Police Court on Thursday last week . . . for interfering with and annoying other persons "using and enjoying" Kew Gardens. . . . An employee in the gardens gave evidence that when one of his houses was full of visitors defendant came up and said that witness knew nothing of what he was talking about . . . " A character witness for Farmar said "Mr. Farmar knew more about the plants in Kew Gardens than all the officials put together. "Farmar was fined L2, with 10s. costs, the Mayor advising him to keeep out of the gardens in future." (DoverExprFMP.) |
| Death | Austin Farmar died 21 April 1930 in Richmond, Surrey, England. |
| INFO | DEATH CERTIFICATE. 1930 Richmond Registration Dist, Sub-dist of Richmond, County of Surrey. #88, died 21 Apr 1930, 34 Beaumont Avenue, Richmond U.D., Austin Farmar, male, 84 years, retired private Schoolmaster. Cause of death: I(a) Coma (b) Uraemia II. Cystitis enlarged prostate gland. Nopen [?] certified by R. Duncan, M.S.. Informant W. Bullock, present at the death 34 Beaumont Avenue Richmond. Registered 22 April 1930, Thomas G Day, registrar. (CorresRBFRN Email-2, attachment 2 27Oct2016) -transcribed by DFarmar from digital file. |
| INFO | NEWSPAPER NOTICE. Dover Express, Friday 25 April 1930. "Many old acquaintances and friends in Dover will regret to hear the the death took place on Monday, at 34, Beaumont Avenue, Richmond, Surrey, of Mr. Austin Farmar, in his 84th year. Mr. Farmar, and his father, Mr. William Farmar, before him were for many years proprietors of a boys' private school in Castle St., Dover, where many of the townspeople of Dover were educated. After his retirement Mr. Farmar resided at Richmond, but up to the last maintained a deep interest in Dover matters. He was always a keen critic of the present day methods of education and of looseness in writing and facts." (DoverExpFMP.) |
| INFO | CEMETERY INDEX. Richmond [London Borough] Cemetery Services. Burial date 25 Apr 1930. Austin Farmar, age 84, at Richmond Cemetery, Section 3, grave 6577. (RichmBurReg.) |
| INFO | PROBATE. 1930 Farmar, Austin of 34 Beaumont-avenue Richmond Surrey died 21 April 1930 Probate London 24 May to Sarah Vaughan Farmar widow. Effects £140. (PPRCalen LDS251471 1930, p.275.) |
| INFO | CIV REG INDEX Death. Austin Farmar. 84. Jun Q,1930. Richmond S 2a,613. (GBCivRegInd LDS6103458.) |
| INFO | PLACENAMES Bibliography. published 2003 by Adrian Room. "I would like to have included two books by Austin Farmar, Place-Name Synonyms Classified and Place-Name Correspondences, both published in 1904 by David Nutt, London. The aim of each is admirable: to classify placename elements according to their themes or meanings and to give their equivalents in languages other than English. The works are now however, dated and unreliable, so cannot be recommended. But the concept is still valid, and could prove a worthwhile addition to modern toponymy if realized by a writer with the necessary knowledge and interest. Farmar based his own work on Christine Blackie's Etymological Geography, published by Murray in 1875." (PlaceWorld p.439.) |
Austin Farmar