Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Barry, Henry
BARRY, HENRY (1750–1822), colonel, appears in the 'Army List' as a second lieutenant of 22 Feb. 1763; was gazetted as an ensign in the 52nd regiment on 11 March 1768; became a lieutenant on 23 Sept. 1772; a captain on 4 Jan. 1777; a major in the army on 19 Feb. 1783; a regimental major on 11 May 1789; a lieutenant-colonel in the army on 18 May 1790; was promoted to a lieutenant-colonelcy in the 39th regiment on 8 Dec. 1790, and became a colonel on 19 July 1793.
His regiment, the 52nd, was engaged in the war with our American colonies, during which Barry acted as aide-de-camp and private secretary to Lord Rawdon, afterwards Marquis of Hastings, who took a distinguished part in it. While on Lord Rawdon's staff he penned some of the best written despatches ever transmitted from an army on service to the British cabinet. As the 52nd and Lord Rawdon both took part in the battles of Bunker's Hill, Brooklyn, White Plains, and at the attack on Fort Clinton, and as Barry was at the time a lieutenant in the 52nd and aide-de-camp to Lord Rawdon, it is fair to assume that he was present at all those actions. He afterwards served in India, where he gained additional credit. Returning to England, he appears to have left the army in 1794, and to have settled at Bath, where he was well known and valued among the higher scientific and literary circles of that city. He died there on 2 Nov. 1822 (Gent. Mag. xciii. pt. i. 571).
[Annual Biography and Obituary, viii. 408; Historical Record of the 52nd Regiment; Army Lists.]