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Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Barrow, George

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1110446Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 03 — Barrow, George1885Preston Bruce Austin

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.]