| Grahame Farr | |
| Birth Date: | 27 October 1912 |
| Birth Place: | Clifton, Bristol |
| Occupation: | Maritime historian |
| Language: | English |
| Education: | Clifton College |
| Period: | 1935–1983 |
| Subject: | History of ships, shipping and lifeboats |
| Notableworks: | Records of Bristol Ships, 1800-1838 (Bristol, 1950) Somerset Harbours, including the Port of Bristol (London, 1954) West Country passenger steamers (Second, revised, edition, Prescot, 1967). |
| Spouse: | Elsie Farr |
Grahame Edgar Farr (27 October 1912 – 22 November 1983) was a maritime historian, specialising in the history of ships and shipping in the south-west of England from the eighteenth century onwards. He also wrote about the history of the lifeboat.
Farr was born, educated, lived and worked in Bristol; his interest in ships and shipping came from his father, and his upbringing in Bristol. Farr worked for a printing firm; his research and writing therefore had to be conducted in his spare time. Farr wrote many books on maritime history; the most notable being Records of Bristol Ships, 1800-1838; Somerset Harbours, including the Port of Bristol; and West Country passenger steamers. He archives are held by the National Maritime Museum and the Friends of Purton.
Farr was born in Clifton, Bristol on 27 October 1912.[1] His father was Edgar James Farr, who worked for the Bristol Steam Navigation Company for 50 years, starting as an office boy and finishing as an accountant.[2] The Western Daily Press described Edgar Farr as "A well-known figure in Bristol shipping circles".[3] Farr's interest in ships and shipping came from his father, and his upbringing in Bristol.[4] Farr was educated in his hometown at Clifton College.[5]
Prior to the Second World War, Farr married a governess named Elsie. Their son Michael was born in Bristol on 18 November 1938. Before Michael's first birthday, Farr enlisted in the British army. While Farr served in the military, his wife and son lived in a house near the Avonmouth Docks in Bristol. To protect themselves when Germans bombed their town, Elsie and Michael stayed in a steel shelter in their dining room. In 1942, Elsie and Michael moved to a cottage owned by her employers in the village of Temple Cloud, where there was less likelihood of being bombed. In 1945, they visited family in Scotland.[6] The family—Grahame, Elsie, and Michael—returned to their home in Bristol in July 1945.
On leaving Clifton College, Farr worked for a printing firm in Bristol, where he stayed for the whole of his professional life, apart from his war service. Farr's research and writing had to be conducted in his spare time.
During the Second World War, Farr served with the Royal Army Service Corps (RASC), being made Second Lieutenant on 23 November 1940.[7] By 1944 he was a War Substantive Lieutenant.[8] His war service took him to Kenya, Madagascar and Ceylon.
Farr was an early member of the Bristol Shiplovers Society (founded in 1931);[9] he became its Honorary Secretary before the war.[10] An objective of the society was to "collect data, past and present, of ships and sailors, chiefly relating to the Port of Bristol. These facts are entered into the log-books of the society and due course recorded in the archives of Bristol".[11] During the war, his father, Edgar Farr, acted as secretary to Bristol Shiplovers Society on his son's behalf.[12] Farr also became a member of the Society for Nautical Research, continuing as a member for nearly 50 years. His earliest article for the Society's journal, The Mariner's Mirror, was about Brunel's Great Western, built in Bristol. It was published in 1938.[13]
Farr's earliest book was The Somersetshire Life-Boats (1935). Following the war, Farr wrote many books on maritime history, specialising in the history of ships and shipping in the West Country from the eighteenth century onwards. He wrote several monographs for the National Maritime Museum. Farr also contributed articles to journals, including The Mariner's Mirror. He was the first maritime historian to make intensive use of the Statutory Registers of Merchant Ships.
Farr was the archivist of the Lifeboat Enthusiasts' Society. The Society was formed in 1964, with the active co-operation of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution, "to facilitate communication between persons interested in the technical and historical aspects of life-boat work".[14] Farr was also the honorary editor of the International Lifeboat Journal between 1974 and 1983.[15]
Farr died on 22 November 1983, after a long struggle against deteriorating health and eyesight. His obituary in The Mariner's Mirror described him as "a remarkable man, assiduous and painstaking in his research, and yet ever-ready to share his knowledge with others".
Works by Farr are variously catalogued under the names Grahame Edgar Farr, Grahame E. Farr, Grahame Farr, and G. E. Farr. The following lists are largely derived from the catalogue of the British Library.
National Maritime Museum holds Farr's card index system for ships entering the Bristol Channel (between Milford, Gloucester and the Scilly Isles). Information in the cards ‘include the name of the vessel; port of registry and date which includes ports UK wide; an abbreviation description of the vessel; dimensions; tonnage; builders; engines; the first owners and if any changes were made to the vessel’.[16]
The Friends of Purton acquired Farr's photographic collection in 2007. Started in the 1930s, the collection consists of several thousand black and white images of local coasters, lighters, paddle steamers, schooners, trows and related subjects.[17] [18]
The Exmoor Society's archives include extensive material relating to the commissioning and publication of Farr's microstudy on the ‘’Ships and Harbours of Exmoor’’ (1970).[19]