He was born in 1904, the second son of Thomas Farrer, 2nd Baron Farrer and the first by his second wife Evangeline (née Knox), daughter of Octavius Newry Knox Justice of the Peace (son of The Honorary John Henry Knox, son of Thomas Knox, 1st Earl of Ranfurly).
Trinity College; Westminster School.
He was educated at Westminster School and Trinity College, Cambridge (Bachelor 1925). They had no children. During the Second World War he served as an officer in the Royal Air Force, reaching the rank of Wing Commander.
He was a county councillor on Hertfordshire County Council and was both a Deputy Lieutenant of Hertfordshire and a Justice of the Peace.
