George Farquhar
Irish dramatist (1677–1707)
George Farquhar (1677 – 29 April 1707) was an Irish dramatist. He is noted for his contributions to late Restoration comedy, particularly for his plays The Constant Couple (1699), The Recruiting Officer (1706) and The Beaux' Stratagem (1707).
Early life
Born in Derry, Farquhar was one of seven children born to William Farquhar, a clergyman of modest means. The author of "Memoirs of Mr. George Farquhar", a biographical sketch prefixed to certain 18th-century editions of his works, claims that Farquhar
discovered a Genius early devoted to the Muses. When he was very young, he gave Specimens of his Poetry; and discovered a Force of Thinking, and Turn of Expression, much beyond his years.
He was educated at Foyle College and later entered Trinity College Dublin at age 17 as a sizar under the patronage of the Bishop of Dromore, who may have been related to Farquhar's mother. Farquhar may have initially intended to follow his father's profession and become a clergyman, but was "unhappy and rebellious as a student" and left college after two years to become an actor. According to an 18th-century biographer, Farquhar's "gay and volatile Disposition could not long relish the Gravity and Retirement of a College-life," and Trinity College may have expelled him over a "profane jest."
Acting career
Farquhar joined a company performing on the Dublin stage, probably through his acquaintance with the well-known actor Robert Wilks. However, Farquhar was reportedly not that impressive as an actor.
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Vocabulary and entity names are the principal evidence signals here, because they determine the precision of every later search. The source revision retrieved here is dated Aug 27, 2026. The linked authority identifier is Q517634. VIAF identifies the subject as 61545511. The Library of Congress control number is n50011055. 3 of 3 selected statements include explicit references; 0 carry qualifiers and 0 use preferred rank. The first chronological checks are 1677, 1707, 1699 and 1706.
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This entry incorporates text from “George Farquhar” on English Wikipedia. Contributors are listed in the page history. Text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 License. Selected authority identifiers and statements are retrieved from Wikidata under CC0; their references and qualifiers remain part of the verification path.