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 keen 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 the 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 Country 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 Charles Tindal Gatty, by saying he had been expelled from Charterhouse School for immorality, and was ordered to pay £5,000 damages a year later. This was reduced to £2,500 on appeal.[6]
He died on 19 April 1895, in the Red Sea, on a voyage home from Colombo, Ceylon.[7]
