Conrad James Farr MRCS, LRCP, FRCOG

Dr C J Farr, formerly consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist in Cuckfield, Sussex, died suddenly on 6 February [1988] aged 85.

Conrad James Farr was born on 19 September 1902, the elder son of a general practitioner in Yorkshire who moved south to practise in Cuckfield, Sussex, under the misapprehension that he was suffering from a mortal illness, which he survived some 20 years.

Father and son were educated at Marlborough and studied medicine at King’s College Hospital, Conrad qualifying in 1927. He then went into the Royal Navy, which he left after three years on account of his father’s health, joining the practice.

He had served mainly in South Africa, a country he loved and to which he returned on several subsequent visits. At the outbreak of war he was recruited into the Emergency Medical Service as superintendent of the enlarged Cuckfield Hospital, where he developed an interest in obstetrics.

After the war he returned to the practice but, by then already middle aged, decided to become a house surgeon at the Women’s Hospital in Liverpool. This enabled him to obtain the MRCOG, in 1950, and to become consultant obstetrician and gynaecologist to Cuckfield Hospital.

Conrad continued to live in the practice house until his retirement and was a well loved and a prominent figure in village life. His many country pursuits included ornithology and gardening, walking his dog, riding his horse, hunting when younger, and, above all, fishing in the west country and Scotland. He was unmarried.

British Medical Journal, 27 February 1988

Tessa Boyer recalled in the Cuckfield Gossip Facebook Group: 'Dr Farr was called out as an emergancy to attend me after the birth of my first son. It was a Sunday morning and he was in the garden when he was called. He came straight up to the hospital to me, bringing his dog with him. One of the student nurses had the job of walking the dog around the hospital grounds while Cocky Farr attended to me. The nurse thanked me afterwards for getting her off ward duties'.

Another recollection, supported by another villager was 'that he used to take afterbirth home in the boot of his car, to then put on the roses in his garden'. Whether this was a village myth or not, one thing is certain, Marshall's garden brightened up the high street.

Contributed by Malcolm Davison.