Henry Richard Farquharson (1857 – 19 April 1895)[1] was an English landowner and Conservative politician.
Farquharson was born at Brighton and became the owner of a large estate at Eastbury House, Tarrant Gunville (near Blandford Forum in Dorset). He was a fanatical breeder of Newfoundland dogs and had a pack of one hundred and twenty five. He imported them through the port of Poole, Dorset and had a Crufts winner.[2]
He was elected at the 1885 general election as Member of Parliament (MP) for West Dorset, and held the seat until his death.[3] In 1891, an unnamed West of England M.P., now believed to have been Henry Richard Farquharson, was mentioned in a newspaper article as claiming that Jack the Ripper, the infamous murderer in the impoverished Whitechapel District in the East End of London, was the son of a surgeon and that he committed suicide after he had committed murder of Mary Jane Kelly on the night of 9 November 1888.[4] It is believed that the reference was to Montague John Druitt, a fellow West County man, who committed suicide at the end of November 1888 and whose body was retrieved from the Thames at Chiswick a month later. Druitt was born in Wimborne Minster, Dorset, England, the second son of prominent local surgeon William Druitt, and his wife Ann (née Harvey).[5] In the 1892 election Farquharson libelled his opponent C. T. Gatty, and was forced to pay £5000 damages a year later.[6] He died 19 April 1895 in the Red Sea on a voyage home from Colombo, Ceylon.[7]
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| New constituency | Member of Parliament for West Dorset 1885 – 1895 |
Succeeded by Robert Williams |