Farr, William (1807–1883)

William Farr is one of the major figures in the history of epidemiology. A British physician with an unusual knowledge of statistics, Farr was appointed Compiler of Abstracts at the General Register Office of England and Wales, which registers births, marriages, and deaths. He worked almost 40 years in analyzing statistics from England and Wales and pioneered the quantitative study of morbidity and mortality.

Farr developed a classification of causes of death, constructed the first English life table, and made major contributions to occupational epidemiology, comparing mortality in specific occupations with that of the general population. In a report presented in 1864, Farr addressed the disproportionate high number of deaths among miners in Cornwall, showing that at each age level, the rate of mortality attributed to pulmonary diseases among miners was much higher than among males exclusive of miners, with the difference being higher at higher ages. He concluded that pulmonary diseases were the chief cause of the high mortality rate among the miners. From the fact that excess mortality from pulmonary diseases reached its maximum after mid-age, when mine conditions had had sufficient time to produce their effect on the health of miners, Farr concluded that it might be confidently inferred that these diseases were due to labor conditions inside mines.

Being a conscious reformer, Farr opposed the gloomy Malthusian views then in fashion. Against the idea that population grows geometrically while food can grow only arithmetically, he argued that human inventiveness can increase productivity, and, moreover, that plants and animals that constitute food also grow geometrically. Against Malthus's idea that men reproduce like rabbits, without concern for consequences, Farr showed with statistics that the average age at marriage in England was 24 to 25years, about 8 years after the onset of the reproductive age of women, and that more than 20% of men and women reaching reproductive age never married.

As the statistician in charge of analyzing mortality data, Farr argued in an official report that hunger was responsible for many more deaths than shown in the statistics, since its effects were generally manifested indirectly in the production of diseases of various kinds. Although he was a supporter of the miasmatic theory of disease and initially claimed that cholera was transmitted by polluted air, Farr was finally persuaded otherwise by John Snow, and in 1866 produced a monograph showing how cholera cases were much more frequent in Londoners receiving water from particular sources.

Being fluent in French, German, and Italian, Farr represented Britain in a number of statistical congresses, andinhislateryearswasconsideredamajorauthority on medical statistics and public health. Today, he is considered one of the most prominent figures of the movement of social medicine in Victorian England and a major author in the history of health statistics.