George Herbert Farrar was born in England and brought up by his mother and grandfather in the village of Kempston. He attended Bedford Modern School. He then went to work at his grandfather's business, the Britannia Ironand Steel Works, where he received a background in engineering. He came to South Africa in 1879 to join his brothers Sidney and Percy, with the aim of selling agricultural machinery. At an agricultural show in Johannesburg, Farrar realised that a water drilling machine made by Britannia could be used to discover gold reefs far below the surface. Farrar apparently took a drilling machine to the East Rand and drilled to the south of where the ERPM and Kleinfontein mines were already operating.