Archive of the Month
Elizabeth Ferrar: A Life of Service
By Rachel Bennett, Assistant Archivist, RCB Library
In 2024, the RCB Library unexpectedly received a collection of items related to the Ferrar Family, containing writings, miscellaneous papers and photographs, principally of Elizabeth Ferrar (1912–2001) from a family relative in Cork. Miss Ferrar was a dedicated teacher and missionary and a well–known member of the Church of Ireland community, spending over 30 years working in various positions across India, most notably with the Dublin University Mission (D.U.M). Recently, this collection has been accessioned into the Library’s manuscript catalogue (as MS 1182) and provides a glimpse into the life of Miss Ferrar. It further compliments an existing collection of family material donated separately (MS 429) donated separately at a much earlier stage.
Born in 1912, Elizabeth Ferrar was the youngest of her siblings: Michael, Ella and Daphne. Her parents Dr Benjamin Banks Ferrar and Isabella Ferrar (daughter of Robert Shaw–Hamilton, the Dean of Armagh), married in Armagh where Dr Ferrar ran a successful medical practice. Prior to Elizabeth’s birth in 1911, he accepted the role of curator of the Zoological Gardens in Dublin’s Pheonix Park, where Elizabeth and her siblings would spend much of their childhood. The Ferrar children were extremely close and cherished their family connections which is highlighted throughout her papers. In particular, the collection holds a significant number of letters between the Ferrar siblings between 1944–1962 which serves to emphasise their close–knit relationship, despite long periods of geographical separation.
Elizabeth was educated at Alexandra College, Dublin where she developed her interest in writing and from an early age had expressed interest in further study to become a teacher. Initially, her father opposed these ambitions, as he held a more conservative view that women should not work outside the home. Eventually, Dr Ferrar agreed to allow his daughter to train as a teacher, provided that she spent time abroad as a missionary teacher. Initially, Elizabeth spent a period teaching at her old school, Alexandra College and then completed teacher training at the missionary training college, Selly Oak in Birmingham.
In 1939 Elizabeth joined the Dublin University Mission to Chota Nagpur. Based in Hazaribagh, the mission ran parishes, primary and secondary schools and a third level college as well as the St Columba’s hospital (which included a school of nursing). The story of the mission has been documented in an earlier Archive of the Month (click here to view) Elizabeth was appointed the warden of St Kieran’s Girls High School and was recognized as an important authority on education within the diocese. Elizabeth remained in Hazaribagh for 17 years and included in the collection are numerous slides showing her extensive travels. In the mid 1950’s Elizabeth returned briefly to Ireland where she was a popular speaker at numerous church functions, with many of these speaking events being covered by the Church of Ireland Gazette (click here).
Throughout her life, Elizabeth’s older brother Michael was one of her closest friends and throughout her time in India they corresponded regularly. Michael Ferrar, who was born in 1909 was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and ordained for the curacy of St Mary’s, Drogheda, in 1934, before going on to become curate of Holy Trinity, Rathmines. In 1939, Michael was appointed the warden of the Divinity Hostel, succeeding from the Revd R.G.F. Jenkins. It was in this role that Michael found his permanent home within the Church, educating a new generation of ordinands. Providing spiritual and personal guidance gave Michael the opportunity to know each student individually, allowing him to build bonds that became lifelong connections.
In his distinguished clerical and education career, Ferrar was given the honorary role of Clerical Vicar at Christ Church Cathedral in 1952 and would remain in the post of Warden of the Divinity Hostel until his premature and sudden death on 3 December 1960. Michael, who had been blind in one eye since his early college years, was in hospital for treatment on his other eye when he suffered a fatal heart attack. Michael’s sudden death was felt deeply throughout the Church of Ireland community. An outpouring of condolence letters were sent to Elizabeth and her family. The letters which were retained by Elizabeth and are included within MS 1183 convey many personal memories of Michael, including a letter from Archbishop George Simms, who later went on to publish a biography of Michael. The loss of her brother had a profound effect on Elizabeth, who began collecting various imagery of St Michael, such as prints and post cards as a way of honouring his memory. These have also been retained as part of the manuscript collection.
Elizabeth returned from India in 1966 and became the general secretary of the Oxford Mission to Calcutta, subsequently spending time as the warden of a student hostel in Edinburgh. Elizabeth officially retired in 1971 but continued to serve of several committees including the USPG, Bishops’ Appeal and the Irish School of Ecumenic, as well as editing the Search journal. Her writing was an important part of developing a network of support for the C.N. diocese and Elizabeth circulated copies of her articles to her numerous contacts to provide updates on the mission’s current initiatives and draw attention to the Dublin University Missions fundraising efforts, with her correspondence continuing until her passing.
This manuscript collection holds documents that will interest a variety of researchers. Many will be interested in Elizabeth’s academic writing, spanning from her early years in India up until her death in 2001, many of which were published in a variety of journals but the chronological arrangement in the collection provides a new point of access. Personal documents provide a remarkable first–hand account of Elizabeth’s missionary work. These materials capture the “everyday events” of mission life, particularly her time as warden of St Kieran’s Girls’ High School in Hazaribagh. The collection also holds extensive visual records, with a collection of slides documenting Elizabeth’s extensive travel, primarily throughout India and Egypt throughout the 1950s and 1960s. The detailed handlist is now available here