Farr, Wm

Full Name: William Farr

Achievements: Statistics

Born: November 30, 1807; Kenley, Shropshire, England

Died: April 14, 1883; London, England (Aged 76)

Field & Discipline: Statistics

Language: English

Father: Unknown

Mother: Unknown

Siblings: Unknown

Spouse: 1) Miss Langford; 2) M E Whittall

Children: by Whittall: 8

Education: Local schools

Major Work:

"Vital Statistics' (1837)

"Report on the Mortality from Cholera in England in 1848-9" (1852)

"Reports of the Registrar General" (1839-80)

Census reports (1851, 1861, 1871)

Life & Times:

In 1829 Farr went to Paris, then in the forefront of new medical thinking. He attended lectures given by [taught by] Louis* and [taught by] Dupuytren*, both of whom were modernists. Among the wide range of lectures he attended were those given by [taught by] Gay-Lussac*, [taught by] Geoffroy St Hilaire* and [taught by] Cuvier*.   Farr became an enthusiast of the method of observation and analysis taught by Louis. 

He returned to England in 1831,  worked for six months as a locum house surgeon for the City Infirmary in Shrewsbury.  He then went to London to study at University College and in March 1832 gained a qualification as licentiate of the Apothecaries' Society.

The following year he married and set up private medical and teaching practice in London.

He supplemented his income by writing for medical journals, usually on statistical subjects. He also wanted to give a course of lectures on hygiene but there was then no general interest in public health and it was not considered a worthy subject.   Farr had to content himself with publishing his proposed lecture material in the medical journal, "The Lancet". 

In 1837 Farr wrote an article on "Vital Statistics" for McCulloch's "Account of the British Empire".   The article was an in-depth treatise on statistics. Among the papers Farr wrote at this time were "A History of the Medical Profession and its Influence on the Public Health", "Benevolent Funds and Life Assurance in Health and Disease", and "The Law of Recovery and Mortality in Cholera Spasmodica".  

Farr’s statistical data were used by the public health reformer [work used by] Edwin Chadwick* for his Poor Law recommendations.  In 1837 the requirement for the civil registration of births, deaths and marriages came into operation and in that year the first Registrar General was appointed. Farr was now becoming known to men of influence who were interested in social reform and he was recommended for a job in Registry by Chadwick. 

In 1839, Farr was made Compiler of Abstracts to the Registrar General, and gave up his practice, joined the Statistical Society,  and from then on devoted his life to compiling and developing a national system of vital statistics.  In the Registrar General's first annual report, Farr published the first of his series of letters on the causes of death in England. He named a number of areas in which the data on the death register could be usefully applied, and was especially concerned with the use of mortality statistics for improving public health.

To this end he also began his work of clarifying the classification of diseases, regarding this as crucial as the use of "weights and measures in the physical sciences".

In 1839 he made a speech on medical reform at the British Medical Association. In 1841 he contributed a paper on "The Mortality of Lunatics" to the Statistical Society. Further papers presented to the Society give some idea of the applications he saw for statistics. They include: "Influence of Scarcities and of the Prices of Wheat on the Mortality of the People of England", the "Civil Service of England, with observations on the constitution of Funds for Fatherless Children and Widows",  "Income and Property Tax",  "Pay of Ministers of the Crown"  and "Mortality of Children in the principal States of Europe".   Most of all, Farr was enthusiastic about using the mortality rates to demonstrate the link between a high mortality rate and unhygienic conditions,  which he believed would promote sanitary reform.

This is clearly seen in his reports on cholera.  "The Mortality of Cholera in England 1848-9" (1852) was a significant addition to the data on the causes of cholera and methods of prevention. As he went around London collecting information, the London Water Companies did not appreciate his theory about the spread of the disease through polluted water supplies.

In 1856 he met [collaborated with] Nightingale* at a dinner party just after she had returned from the Crimea. They corresponded and agreed that Farr would help Nightingale promote the health of the army and she would help with the campaign to reduce civilian mortality.  Farr gave her expert statistical and actuarial advice and in return was given information about hospital nursing practices and child care in Europe. However, Nightingale was of most value to Farr in her connections with the medical and political establishment. 

In 1858 he was made a member of the committee reporting on the preparation of Army Medical Statistics; he was a member of the Royal Commission for Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Army in India and of the Royal Commission for the Condition of Miners in Great Britain.

In 1865 he was asked to draw up figures for the guidance of [reported to] Gladstone*, Chancellor of the Exchequer, for the development of a government system of insurance. He gave evidence to the Royal Commission on Water Supply and to the Royal Sanitary Commission and was consulted on the Superannuation of the Metropolitan Police.

Farr was assistant commissioner for the censuses of 1851 and '61, and commissioner in 1871. In addition he wrote the major part of all three census reports.  He attended International Statistical Congresses all over Europe, usually as the official British delegate,  and was greeted as an eminent figure by visitors such as the Belgian mathematician [worked with] Quetelet* whom he met in Florence.  Farr resigned his post in 1879 after being refused the position of Registrar General.

Extra Connections: He believed in the [believed in] miasma theory*

Assessment: Farr believed that the application of scientific study to problems of society would result in an improvement in the health and welfare of the people.

Oneliner: William Farr,  early public health statistician

Bibliography:

• Eyler, John M., Victorian Social Medicine, The Ideas and Methods of William Farr, John Hopkins University Press, Baltimore and London, 1979.
• Humphreys, Noel A., Ed., Vital Statistics: A Memorial Volume of Selections from the Reports and Writings of William Farr, offices of the Sanitary Institute, London, 1885.