Nicholas Ferrar (22 February 1592 – 4 December 1637) was an English scholar, courtier and businessman, who was ordained a deacon in the Church of England.

He lost much of his fortune in the Virginia Company and retreated with his extended family in 1626 to the manor of Little Gidding, Huntingdonshire, for his remaining years, in an informal spiritual community following High Anglican practice.

[1] His friend the poet and Anglican priest George Herbert (1593–1633), on his deathbed, sent Ferrar the manuscript of The Temple, telling him to publish the poetry if it might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul."

[5] Ferrar suffered from poor health and was advised to travel to continental Europe, away from the damp air of Cambridge.

He met Anabaptists and Roman Catholics, including Jesuits and Oratorians, as well as Jews, broadening his religious education.

The court faction supported Sir Thomas Smythe (or Smith), also a prominent member of the East India Company.

Smythe as treasurer of the Virginia Company from 1609 to 1620 encouraged the governor to end evangelisation of Native Americans and expand tobacco culture.

[a] Smythe (as he spelt his name) was criticised by rivals for allegedly skimming profits, but an investigation revealed no wrongdoing and he continued to enjoy the support of the king.

In 1626 Ferrar and his extended family left London and moved to the largely deserted village of Little Gidding in Huntingdonshire.

[10][11] In 1633 the poet George Herbert, on his deathbed, sent the manuscript of The Temple to Nicholas Ferrar, telling him to publish the poems if he thought they might "turn to the advantage of any dejected poor soul", and otherwise, to burn them.

[16] Nicholas Ferrar is regarded as patron of the Oratory of the Good Shepherd, an international Anglican religious community.