The son of poor parents, Farr was adopted at the age of two by a local squire. On the death of his benefactor in 1829, Farr inherited £500 which he used to fund his study of hygiene and medical statistics at UCL. In 1837 he was appointed to the General Register Office where he instigated a proper statistical record of causes of death. In 1864 he published a life table for England based on his analysis of more than six million deaths (for which he used a new-fangled calculating machine designed by Babbage). He was elected FRS in 1855.

http://www.lshtm.ac.uk/library/archives/history/frieze/farr.html Fuller biography and photograph.