Farrar, Abraham

Born at Leeds; deafened at age 3 by scarlet fever; privately tutored by Thomas Arnold. First deaf youth to pass the Cambridge University Local Examination, at age 16; graduated the University of London. Apprenticed to E.F. Law & Sons, an architectural and surveying firm, but worked in that field only 4 years. Elected a Fellow of the Royal Geographic Society, and authored several geological papers, but later moved into education. Worked extensively in editing, translating, and collecting books connected with deafness; he was one of the first, if not the first, person to do research in Deaf history, discovering many forgotten deaf persons and events of the past.