John Farr 1949 - 2023 May he R. I. P

Old Beaumont friend John Farr died  on July 13th 2023 - May he rest in peace.                                        

John Farr’s father, a  lieutenant colonel in the army, was  married to a Dutch lady. When I first met them at home with John, they lived in a delightful house in Kingswood Way Selsdon. The house had been called “The Retreat” but Lt. Colonel Farr for obvious reasons, changed the address to 21, Kingswood Way.

At Beaumont, John excelled at sports, being in the First VIII for rowing, and the First XV for rugby. He rowed at Henley for Beaumont in  the School’s  final year, and  the   rugby team followed the School’s tradition of winning at Eton.

The announcement of the closure of Beaumont wreaked havoc with  VIth formers’ ‘A’ Levels including John’s. He left Beaumont at 18 to attend  law lectures at what was then called Holborn College of Law Languages and Commerce, with a view to obtaining a London University (external) law degree. In the event, 95% of the students at Holborn failed their courses, which may explain  why Holborn College soon became Regent Street Polytechnic and is now part of Westminster University.  John had purchased a motorcycle by then for travelling around London and  Surrey.

During the long student holidays. he did much travelling. Quite amusingly on the steam train to Istanbul  John was almost arrested by Turkish police, being in the lavatory during their  vigorous passport checking. Later  because of an outbreak of smallpox in Turkey, after being compulsorily vaccinated with others, he was evacuated to Cyprus. Lt. Colonel Farr arranged for accommodation on a British army base on Cyprus to  which his London University degree results  were signalled. John secured a creditable 2:1 Law degree. From Cyprus a boat to Port Alexandria Egypt; a few days in Cairo thence in a train full of chained prisoners, to Luxor. The recent war with Israel, the blowing up of three jumbo jets in the desert and the poverty in the country, meant that Egypt was almost devoid of foreigners. None the less John was confident and  popular with locals and was put up on the roofs of people’s houses in Luxor. After taking a dhow across the Nile, a young Swiss archaeologist girl stranded nearby, happily provided entrance for John  to  many old sites and tombs including that of Tutankhamun.

Following  a number of  subsequent adventures, John was offered what were then known as articles of clerkship, at a very well regarded City firm of solicitors, at the time   simply called  Herbert Smith though the firm has since merged. There he was popular and successful  eventually becoming the firm’s principal employment law partner. He  stayed at Herbert Smith for all his working life and even after retirement was involved there with staff and partner social events.

In his private life, he married Caroline and later Katherine. Katherine was some 15 years his junior but tragically  died very prematurely.

John  had five wonderful children. During  the Covid-19 pandemic  and  probably in breach of government regulations, John  invited me to accompany him to nearby Kew Gardens, after which his youngest daughter Emily, who was at the time required  to live at home away from her university, kindly made us lunch together.

A wonderful father, friend, and solicitor.

May he rest in peace.