Date Published:
June 2005

L’Encyclopédie de l’histoire du Québec / The Quebec History Encyclopedia

Edward Farrer

Farrer, Edward (1850-1916), journalist, was born near Castlebar, county Mayo, Ireland, in 1850. He was educated at Stoneyhurst, England , and at the Jesuit College, Rome, and came to Canada in 1870. He obtained employment first on the staff of the Toronto Daily Telegraph, and then, in 1872, on the staff of the Toronto Mail. In 1874 he left Canada, and spent several years in Ireland and in the United States ; but in 1882 he returned to Canada, to become editor-in-chief of the Mail. After a varied experience ,in Canadian journalism, he found himself, in June, 1890, a leader-writer on the Toronto Globe. It was while in this position that he printed privately a pamphlet, advocating the political union of Canada and the United States, a copy of which was stolen from the printers, and was used for a charge of treasonous plotting on the part of the leaders of the Liberal party. As a consequence, Farrer retired in 1892 from active journalism in Canada, and lived for a number of years in Washington, D.C. He returned to Canada, however, about 1905, and during his last years he was Canadian correspondent of the London Economist. He died in Ottawa, on April 27, 1916.

Source  : W. Stewart WALLACE, ed., The Encyclopedia of Canada, Vol. II. Toronto, University Associates of Canada, 1948, 411p., p. 321.