Max Henry Ferrars (1846 - 1933)
Biography
Max Henry Ferrars was born on the 28.10.1846 of Irish (father) and German (mother) parentage in Killucan, Ireland. He studied at Trinity College, Dublin and then attended the Royal Saxon Forestry Academy in Tharandt (1870/1871). After completing his studies, Ferrars moved to Burma (present-day Myanmar), which was a province of British India. During his time in Asia (1870s–1890s), Ferrars worked in various professions: as a forestry assistant and verderer, as a school inspector and also head of the provincial education authority. The Ferrars moved to Freiburg in 1896. He joined the Städtische Kommission für das Museum für Natur- und Völkerkunde (Municipal Commission fin Support of the Natural and Ethnological Museum). He became an English lecturer at the University of Freiburg in 1899 where he worked until the winter semester of 1920/21. Max Henry Ferrars passed away on the 2nd of February 1933.
Ferrars was one of the earliest benefactors of the museum. He had assembled his collection for the most part during his stay in Burma (present-day Myanmar). His daughter, Maximiliana Weigand, transferred further holdings from her father's estate to the museum. There is no documentary record of how Ferrars acquired the objects in Asia.