The Five Barker Brothers
The Barker family hailed from Sunderland where their father
Col. Charles William Panton Barker had settled with his wife Mary Tone at The Hawthorns in Ryehope, Bishopwearmouth,
in Durham. Charles was a solicitor and
clerk to the Borough Magistrates, and two of his five sons would later join him
in the family firm of Dixon and Barker. The 1891 Census sees the family, by now
three sons, Charles, John and Harold, and two daughters, Ethel and Gertrude, at
Ryehope with two servants to look after them. All the boys attended the
Sunderland High School before Gresham’s, and the family enjoyed holidays on the
Norfolk Broads. Charles and John were
registered in January of 1901 and were amongst headmaster Howson’s first pupils
in his new School on the Cromer Road site.
Charles William Tone
Barker (1886-1918) set
the standard for the brothers that were to follow him, excelling at athletics
and steeplechase, playing rugby, cricket and hockey for the School, winning
prizes, taking part in debates, and ending his career here as House and School
Captain. He was honoured in his final
year, being chosen by Howson to plant a tree on Arbor Day 1904 to mark his
great contribution to the School. Like
his brothers, Charles often returned to Gresham’s to attend Old Boys’ dinners
or play sport and was a generous contributor to School funds. He had a career
as a solicitor before enlisting in August 1914, serving with his brothers in
the Durham Light Infantry before his death in March 1918 (see profile in Roll
of Honour section).
Harold Frederick Barker
(1891-1918) registered
at Gresham’s as one on the first boarders in the new Woodlands House with his
brother Edwin in September of 1903. He
too showed sporting prowess, in running races, at swimming, as well as playing
rugby and hockey for the School. As House Captain and School Prefect, Harold
was also asked to plant a tree to mark his service to the School and left at
Christmas of 1908 to study for the law exams.
He qualified just months before the outbreak of war, serving as a
Captain with the Durham Royal Garrison Artillery before transferring to the
Royal Field Artillery and going to France with the Wearside Brigade, which his
father was instrumental in forming and had served as its first CO. Harold
married Kathleen Patterson at St. Aidan’s, Grangetown, Sunderland on 9 September
1915, and was killed in action in March 1918, five days after Charles, having
been promoted to Major five days before his death (see profile in Roll of
Honour section). Charles, being unmarried, left his estate to his brother’s
widow Kathleen.
Arnold Septimus Barker (1891-1917) was the youngest of the brothers,
who registered in the Junior House at Christmas 1905, moving up to Woodlands in
August 1910. He features less in the magazines,
but the Woodlands house book records that he played both rugby for his house
and hockey for the School and did well in the steeplechase competition. On leaving School in the Summer of 1912
Arnold went into the offices of coal exporters Hudson & Co. in Sunderland
but enlisted with the 19th Hussars on the outbreak of war. Like his brothers he returned to Gresham’s to
play rugby and later subscribed to the Chapel Fund. He too served in the 7th
Battalion of the Durham Light Infantry with three of his brothers, going to the
front with the Northumberland Division in April 1915 where he suffered the
effects of the first severe gas attack.
He was finally discharged in Autumn of 1916 and went to Singapore to
work in the shipping office of Guthrie & Co. in the hope that the climate
might be beneficial to his health. Arnold died in Singapore in May 1917 and is
buried in the war cemetery there (see profile in Roll of Honour section).
John Hugh Barker (1888-1958)
was the second of
the brothers to attend the School, registering in January of 1901. Like Charles he was one of Howson’s first
boarders, and soon showed promise as a debater, discussing topical issues such
as the construction of a Channel Tunnel and trades unions. John was particularly entertaining on the
subject of anarchists, suggesting the ‘extermination of the species’, and when
debating the degeneration of English newspapers spoke strongly in favour, but
apparently went so deeply into his subject that many were unable to follow! He
showed a talent for acting, taking part in a French play in his first year, and
playing the role of Cobweb in the 1902 production of A Midsummer Night’s Dream. John also did well at sports, beating
Charles to win the Fives competition in 1904, running as one of the hares
against Charles who was a hound in the paperchase, playing cricket for the
School and doing well at athletics. He returned to play cricket as an OG and to
attend meetings of the Old Boys Club.
The 1909 Gresham
magazine reports that John and his younger brother Edwin have returned from
Canada, having spent almost a year farming and breaking horses for the war
effort in Saskatchewan where they found the work very rough and the weather
exceedingly cold. Their return was hastened
by John unfortunately developing blood poisoning after drinking water
contaminated by dead gophers! The report
concludes that John was studying to be an architect, but in the following year
he is learning farming at Purleigh in Essex.
Whatever his career path, John clearly returned to Canada at some stage
as he enlisted as a Private with the Canadian Infantry on 5 February 1914,
stating his occupation as farmer. By 1915 he had returned to England with the
Canadian Contingent and was in camp near Folkestone and was possibly able to
attend the marriage of his sister Gertrude.
Later that year he was listed as serving with the Durham Light Infantry
as 2nd Lieutenant, and in the following June was recorded as being
wounded in the neck whilst serving as a Lieutenant. His CO wrote to John’s father of how
‘wonderfully cheerful and, as always full of grit’ the young man was despite
his near miss. John was promoted Captain
in 1917 and attached to the Royal Fusiliers, again being wounded in 1918.
Returning to Canada once again after the War, John married
Margaret Howd in British Columbia, and their first child was born there. The couple went on to have four more children
after returning to England, where John continued to enjoy the outdoor life in
Cumbria, particularly fishing and shooting, and also writing prose and
poetry. He made occasional broadcasts about
his beloved Canada for the BBC from their Newcastle studios. John
had rejoined the Army after the War, relinquishing his commission on completion
of service in 1921, and finally left the army reserves in April 1938. However, on the outbreak of WWII John was
called up for service and wounded once again whilst serving with the Royal
Artillery during a raid on Barrow-in-Furness.
He died in 1958 and is buried near his home at Greenwell, Cumbria, at
Kirkby Thore Church.
Edwin Carr Barker
(1892-1928) boarded
in Woodlands with Harold from
September of 1903, but the only mention of him at School is playing the part of
an attendant in the 1904 production of Twelfth
Night. He was recorded as returning from Canada in 1909 with his brother
after a year’s farming and reputed to be considering going out to South
Africa. Edwin’s Canadian attestation
papers, dated June 1915, stated that he was a boatbuilder, who had five years’ military
experience in the School OTC, as well as serving with the Seaforth
Highlanders. Five months later he was
training in England in Hampshire, but soon hospitalised with influenza. He went out to France with the Canadian Infantry
in April 1916, suffering concussion and bruising after being buried by a shell
three months later. Edwin’s career as a
soldier was cut short when it was discovered he had trouble marching due to a
problem with a big toe, and he was returned to England for treatment in
Kent. An operation to remove the bone in
his toe followed owing to necrosis which was put down to a childhood
infection. Three months convalescence in
Sussex followed, and then three months back at base in Kent.
Edwin finally returned to France in April of 1917, but again
things went wrong for him and he was reprimanded for his part in a drunken
incident at Le Havre. In November he suffered a gunshot wound to the back and
four weeks later was evacuated to England to a military hospital in Carlisle,
where, to add to his troubles, he was found to have syphilis. Edwin remained in England for the remainder
of the War, finally being discharged in May 1919. He returned to Canada a year
later and in 1921 was lodging with the Anderson family in Jordan River,
Nanaimo, British Columbia, and working as a farmhand. Edwin returned home for a month in 1922 after
the death of his mother in August but went back to Canada before
Christmas. Col. Barker passed away in
March 1926, and in October Edwin married Madge Robertson McGregor in Victoria,
British Columbia. His last journey to
England was to visit his sister Gertrude(Shuttleworth) in Durham in 1928, but
he died three days after returning to Canada on 25 November at the Montreal
General Hospital. Edwin is buried in the
Mount Royal Cemetery there.
The Barker brothers had been amongst Howson’s first pupils in
his newly reformed School and were instrumental in setting standards and
traditions for later Greshamians. Howson was a friend of the family and often
spent holidays with them, teaching the boys fishing and to enjoy the
countryside. He was possibly the author
of the tribute to Charles and Harold, two of his most distinguished pupils,
which appeared in The Gresham
Magazine in June 1918 describing how they were loved and esteemed at School,
praising their courage, unswerving loyalty and good comradeship. Col. Barker
and his wife must have been very proud of their boys, some who followed their
father into the legal profession, others who made a new life in a strange land,
but particularly for all of them for fighting for their country. The Barker
brothers are remembered on a grave monument in Grangetown Cemetery, Sunderland,
alongside their parents.
I am indebted to Tony Vine, the grandson of John Barker, for
providing me with photos and information on his family which have added greatly
to the story.