Farfield is one of the seven boarding houses at Gresham's, an English public school at Holt, Norfolk. It was opened in 1911, as part of a surge of renewal and expansion at Gresham's led by George Howson, and the first housemaster (Major JC Miller) and boys were transferred there from a smaller house called Bengal Lodge. Farfield is currently home to approximately fifty boys. Many former residents have achieved success or notoriety in a number of different fields.
An Entertainment is held every March featuring music, sketches and dramatic excerpts.
The ritual of House Prayers is maintained in Farfield on three evenings per week. This is a short evening service, organised by the prefects (senior pupils), which consists of a hymn, a reading and a prayer, and concludes with the familiar mantra "Goodnight Boys".
The symbol of Farfield is an owl.
1 In Bengal Lodge until 1911
2 The school was evacuated to Newquay during the years 1940-1945
Names are in chronological order. The years at Farfield (or its predecessor Bengal Lodge) are given in round brackets.
Dr Hildebrand Hervey FRS (1902–1906) - marine biologist
Lord Reith (1904–1906) - first Director General of the BBC, later politician
Donald Cunnell (1909–1910) - World War I flying ace who shot down and injured the Red Baron
Tom Wintringham (1912–1915) General Strike planner, commander of the British contingent of the International Brigades in the Spanish Civil War, founder of The Daily Worker (subsequently The Morning Star)
W. H. Auden (1920–1925) - poet
Benjamin Britten (1928–1930) - composer and conductor
Norman Cohn (1929–1933) - historian and Fellow of the British Academy
Bill Mason (1929–1934) - film director and father of Pink Floyd drummer Nick Mason
David Hand (1932–1937) - Archbishop of Papua New Guinea
Major General A. E. Younger (1933–1937) - soldier
John Bradburne (1934–1939) - soldier, missionary and potential Saint
Sir Philip Dowson (1938–1942) - architect and President of the Royal Academy
Robert Aagaard (1944–1949), furniture maker and founder of the youth movement Cathedral Camps
Martin Burgess (1944–1949) - master clockmaker
Dr Anthony Yates (1946–1948) - rheumatologist
Dr Colin Leakey (1947–1952) - botanist
Sir John Tusa (1949–1954) - TV presenter and managing director of the BBC World Service
Stephen Frears (1954–1959) - Oscar-nominated film director
Robert Eagle (1961–1965) - writer and director
Roger Carpenter (1958–1963) - neurophysiologist
Nigel Dick (1966–1971) - music video director
Jeremy Bamber (1974–1979) - convicted for five murders
Matt Arnold (1975–1980) - television presenter
Nick Youngs (1976–1978) - England rugby union footballer
Paddy O'Connell (1979–1983) - BBC radio and television presenter
Ralph Firman (1988–1993) - Formula One racing driver
The Following Old Boys of Bengal Lodge and Farfield gave their lives during the Great War of 1914-1918:
Armitage SW, Aveling LN, Barratt GR, Beeton RH, Biden LTGV, Brownsword DA, Cole AH, Crosse ECM, Crosse MEB, Cunnell DC, Davies LFStJ, Ellis JC, Frost GK, Johnson GB, Kirch C, Robinson HHK, Rumsby RW, Shepherd CA, Simpson JH, Thorn H, Wilson Ian Maclean & Wright JMS
