William Farr was born in the village of Kenley in 1807. The family were poor and moved to the village of Dorrington where William, aged 7 was adopted by a local squire called Joseph Pryce. From an early age Farr had a passion for reading and learning, which the elderly Joseph Pryce supported as best he could. It was a chance encounter, however, when William was aged 19, which changed the course of Farr’s life for ever. He met a Dr Webster, the Salop Infirmary’s Physician, who ‘opened his mind to medical matters’. For the next two years Farr worked as an apprentice under Dr Webster in the Infirmary.