Henry Barkly

Sir Henry Barkly GCMGKCBFRSFRGS
4thGovernor of British Guiana
In office 24 February 1849 – 11 May 1853
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Henry Light
Succeeded by	SirPhilip Wodehouse
Governor of Jamaica
In office 1853–1856
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Charles Edward Grey
Succeeded by	Charles Henry Darling
2ndGovernor of Victoria
In office 26 December 1856 – 10 September 1863
Preceded by	SirCharles Hotham
Succeeded by	SirCharles Henry Darling
10thGovernor of Mauritius
In office 21 August 1863 – 3 June 1870
Preceded by	SirWilliam Stevenson
Succeeded by	SirArthur Hamilton-Gordon
14thGovernor of Cape Colony
In office 31 December 1870 – 31 March 1877
Monarch	Victoria
Preceded by	Sir Philip Wodehouse
Succeeded by	SirHenry Frere
Personal details
Born	(1815-02-24)24 February 1815 Highbury,Middlesex,England, UK
Died	20 October 1898(1898-10-20)(aged 83) South Kensington,London, England, UK
Resting place	Brompton Cemetery
Spouse(s)	Elizabeth Helen Timins (1840–1857) Anne Maria Pratt (1860–1898)

Sir Henry BarklyGCMGKCBFRSFRGS(24 February 1815 – 20 October 1898) was a British politician, colonial governor and patron of the sciences.

Early life and education

Born on 24 February 1815 atHighbury,Middlesex(now London), he was the eldest son of Susannah Louisa (born ffrith) and Æneas Barkly, a Scottish bornWest Indiamerchant.He was educated atBruce Castle SchoolinTottenham,where the school's particular curriculum endowed him with a lifetime interest in science and statistics.

Upon completing his schooling and studies in commerce, Barkly worked for his father. The Barkly family had several connections with theWest Indies:Barkly's mother, Susannah Louisa, whose maiden name was ffrith, was the daughter of aJamaicaplanter; his father's company was concerned with trade in the West Indies; and the family owned an estate inBritish Guiana.

According to theLegacies of British Slave-ownership databaseBarkly's father was compensated £132,000 from the Imperial Parliament for the emancipation of some 4,440 slaves in 1834.Barkly inherited his father's estate in 1836 at the age of 20. He was awarded two of the compensation claims following his father's death.He remained involved in the partnership until 1843.

Political career

Barkly was elected to theHouse of Commonsat aby-election on 26 April 1845as one of the twoMembers of Parliament(MPs) for theborough Leominster. He was returned unopposed,andThe Timesobserved that his election address did not render voters "much wiser" about his political views.

As aPeelite,one of the supporters ofPrime MinisterRobert Peel,Barkly found himself adrift with few political prospects when Peel was overthrown, and he gratefully accepted the governorship ofBritish Guianawhen the post was offered by his Liberal opponents in 1848.

Governorships

Governor of British Guiana

Barkly was sworn in asGovernor and Commander-in-Chief of British Guianaon 12 February 1849. His family connections with British Guiana and theWest Indiesin general served him well as governor of the colony, and promptedLord Grey,theSecretary of State for War and the Colonies,to refer to his "remarkable skill and ability" in addressing the colony's economic issues by widening the franchise of theCollege of Kiezersand introducingindentured servantsfrom Asia.

Governor of Jamaica

In 1853, he was transferred toJamaicaand served three years as itsgovernor and captain-general.

Governor of Victoria

In November 1856, Barkly was appointedGovernor of Victoria,Australia, arriving in Melbourne on 24 December 1856. He achieved one of his main goals of stable government with the appointment of theJames McCullochministry. He was noted for his support of philanthropic and intellectual movements. He was a founder and president of theRoyal Society of Victoria,1860–63, and helped to found theNational Gallery of Victoria,theAcclimatization societyof Victoria and theMelbourne Observatory.

Governor of Mauritius and the Cape Colony

He was appointed 10thGovernor of Mauritiusfrom 26 November 1863 to 4 June 1870.

In August 1870 he was sent to theCape Colonyasgovernorand as BritishHigh Commissioner for Southern Africa.He helped to implementresponsible governmentin the Cape and worked closely withJohn Molteno,its first electedPrime Minister.He served in South Africa until 1877, and played an important role in assisting the early growth of the Cape Liberal tradition. He was also influential in supporting the local resistance againstLord Carnarvon's attempt to unite the region's states into afederation(inspired by the success of theCanadian Confederation). Crucially, he shared with the Cape government the belief that the Cape's non-racial constitution was still fragile and that it was "impossible that the Cape's native laws would survive a session of bargaining with theBoerrepublics. Federation in 1875 would have produced the same results as Union did in 1910... Barkly was undoubtedly right to foster the nucleus of a Liberal party which was forming around Molteno. Liberal democracy was a tender plant in the climate of South Africa, but it had taken root in the Cape, and it was only the insensitive handling of Downing Street which prevented it growing, as Barkly hoped, into a force which would have been strong enough to control the other tendencies in South African politics. "

He was involved with theRoyal Commission on Colonial Defencein 1879.

He died inBrompton, Kensington,London, on 20 October 1898 and is buried inBrompton Cemetery.

Family

In 1840, he married Elizabeth Helen, the second daughter of J. F. Timins.Elizabeth was an artist and botanical collector who collected with her husband and undertook illustrations for him.She died in 1857 leaving him with their daughter Emily.Emily was also a botanical artist, drawing illustrations for her father and collecting botanical specimens.Barkly was remarried to the botanistAnne Maria Pratt,the daughter ofThomas Simson Pratt,three years after the death of his first wife.His oldest sonArthur Cecil Stuart Barkly(1843–1890) was his father's private secretary in Mauritius and the Cape, and went on to become the last British governor ofHeligoland.

Honours

Henry Barkly was awarded a Knight of theOrder of the Bathon 18 July 1853, just prior to his appointment as Governor of Jamaica. He was made a Fellow of theRoyal Society(FRS) in 1864, and of theRoyal Geographical Society(FRGS) in 1870. He was made aGCMGon 9 March 1874.

Legacy

The Navarre diggings, a small Victorian gold field was namedBarklyon 1 November 1861 in his honour.

The South African towns ofBarkly EastandBarkly West,and theBarkly Passare named after him.

Several notable streets were named after him including a main civic street inBallarat Eastnamed Barkly Street for him in 1858along with the main street ofArarat, Victoriaalso named Barkly Street.Barkly Street inMentone, Victoriawas named for him though later renamed Rogers Street.TheBarkly River,located in thealpineregion of Victoria, within theAlpine National Park,is named in honour of Barkly. The bell atop the tower of the Ballarat Fire Brigade, on the corner of Barkly & East streets, Ballarat East was christened the "Lady Barkly" by the brigades Captain in August 1863.

Publications

• MacMillan, Mona (1969)."Sir Henry Barkly, mediator and moderator, 1815-1898".Balkema: Cape Town.
• Barkly, Sir Henry,KCB,GCMG, The Earlier House of Berkeley, published in Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society, Vol. 8, 1883-84,pp. 193–223
• Barkly, Henry(1888).John, Maclean(ed.)."Testa de Nevill Returns for the County of Gloucester".Transactions of the Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society.12.Bristol and Gloucestershire Archaeological Society: 235–290.Retrieved5 March2015.

External links

• Hansard1803–2005:contributions in Parliament by Henry Barkly
• Portraits of Sir Henry Barklyat theNational Portrait Gallery, London
• Mennell, Philip(1892)."Barkly, Sir Henry".The Dictionary of Australasian Biography.London: Hutchinson & Co – viaWikisource.