Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 03.djvu/302

This page has been validated.
Barron
296
Barrow

tributed several papers to its ‘Memoirs.’ Amongst these are essays on supposed Druidical remains near Halifax, on antiquities found in the river Ribble, and on a Roman inscription found in Campfield. A number of his manuscripts were secured for Chetham's Library, Manchester, and several others are in private hands. He wrote verses also, and several of them have been printed, but they are little better than doggerel rhyme. His correspondence with the leading antiquaries of the time appears to have been extensive. One of the most interesting objects in his collection was a sword which he believed to have been that of Edward the Black Prince. A monograph on the swords, attributed to that warrior, has been printed by J. P. Earwaker, F.S.A., in which the claims of Barritt and others are discussed (Archæological Journal, vol. xxx. 1873). Two portraits of Barritt were engraved, in which he is represented with the famous sword and some other objects of his museum. He died 29 Oct. 1820, aged 77, and was buried in the Manchester parish church. Barritt's claim to remembrance is that with great patience and skill he recorded many facts in the history of the district which would otherwise have been lost. The Chetham Society some years ago announced its intention of issuing a selection from his manuscripts, but it has not yet appeared.

[Harland's Ballads and Songs of Lancashire, and Manchester Collectanea; Stanley's Historical Memorials of Canterbury, 10th edit. 1881, p. 181; a communication from Canon C. D. Wray; Papers of the Manchester Literary Club, ii. 156 (Axon); Reliquary, January 1869 (Thomas Gibbon).]

W. E. A. A.

BARRON, HUGH (d. 1791), portrait painter, a scholar of Sir Joshua Reynolds, was the son of an apothecary in Soho. In that genial environment he received his first impulses towards art. After leaving the studio of Reynolds he started for Italy by way of Lisbon. He stopped some time in that city and painted portraits. In 1771–2 he was in Rome. Returning to London he settled in Leicester Square, and exhibited some portraits at the Academy in 1782–3 and 1786. His later work did not fulfil the promise of his youth. Not greatly distinguished as a painter, he was a good violinist, and considered the best amateur performer of his time. He died in the autumn of 1791, aged about forty-five. There is a mezzotint by Valentine Green, after a portrait by Barron, of J. Swan.

[Füssli's Allgemeines Künstler-Lexikon, 1806; Edwards's Anecdotes of Painting, 1808; Pilkington's Dict. of Painters; Redgrave's Dict. of English School, 1879.]

E. R.

BARRON, WILLIAM AUGUSTUS (fl. 1777), landscape painter, was a pupil of William Tomkins and younger brother of Hugh Barron [q. v.] In 1766 he gained a premium at the Society of Arts. He practised as a landscape painter, and also as a drawing master. Like his brother he excelled as a performer upon the violin; like him, also, he reached no more than a moderate excellence in his proper profession. His skill upon the violin gained him an introduction to Sir Edward Walpole, who gave him a situation in the exchequer, which in 1808 he still held. A view of Wanstead House by this artist was engraved by Picot in 1775; also after him are a set of views of castles and other subjects taken in different parts of Essex. In the print-room of the British Museum there is a large pen drawing by him of Richmond Bridge in 1778.

[Edwards's Anecdotes of Painters, 1808; Redgrave's Dict.]

E. R.

BARROUGH, PHILIP (fl. 1590), medical writer. [See Barrow.]

BARROW, Sir GEORGE (1806–1876), author, was the eldest son of Sir John Barrow, first baronet [see Barrow, Sir John]. Sir George was born in London, educated at the Charterhouse, appointed to a clerkship in the colonial office in 1825, became chief clerk and secretary to the order of St. Michael and St. George in 1870, and retired in 1872. In 1832 he married Rosamund, daughter of W. Pennell, consul-general at Brazil, and niece and adopted daughter of the Right Hon. John Wilson Croker. He was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, John Croker, author of the ‘Valley of Tears’ and other poems, in which there are some in memoriam verses to his father. In early life Sir George too exhibited poetic taste in a translation of some odes of Anacreon, which was spoken of favourably by Mr. Gifford, first editor of the ‘Quarterly Review.’ In 1850 Sir George laid the foundation-stone of the Barrow monument erected to his father's memory on the Hill of Hoad, Ulverston. In 1857 Sir George Barrow published a small octavo volume, ‘Ceylon Past and Present.’

[The Times, 2 March 1876; Sir John Barrow's Autobiographical Memoir, London, 1847; The Colonial Office List; Burke's Peerage and Baronetage; Memoir of Sir John Barrow by Sir George Staunton, Bart., London, 1852; Poems by Sir John Croker Barrow, Bart.]

P. B.-A.