Men of the Time, eleventh edition/Barkly, Henry
BARKLY, Sir Henry, K.C.B., G.C.M.G., is of Scottish extraction, being the only son of the late Æneas Barkly, Esq., of Ross-shire, an eminent West India merchant in London, where he was born in 1815. Having received a sound commercial education at Bruce Castle School, Tottenham, he applied himself to business, in which he obtained that practical experience which has placed him in the foremost rank of our colonial administrators. In 1845 he was elected M.P. for Leominster, which constituency he represented till 1849, as a "firm supporter of Sir R. Peel's commercial policy." In 1849 he was appointed Governor and Commander-in-Chief of the settlement of British Guiana (where he owned estates), and during his governorship laid before Parliament some valuable information respecting the colony; advocating the introduction of Coolies and Chinese as labourers. Sir Henry also endeavoured to develop the resources of the colony by the introduction of railways, and by reconciling the factions which had retarded its advancement. As Governor of Jamaica, from 1853 to 1856, he was equally successful. Sir William Molesworth, Secretary of State for the Colonies, in 1856 appointed him to the important and wealthy governorship of Victoria, for which his business habits and his large commercial experience peculiarly fitted him; and in 1863 he was appointed Governor of the Mauritius. In Aug. 1870 he was appointed Governor of the Cape of Good Hope, and he held that office till Dec. 1876. He was appointed High Commissioner for settling the affairs of the territories adjacent to the eastern frontier of the Cape of Good Hope in Nov. 1870. Sir Henry Barkly was created a K.C.B. (Civil division) in 1853, on returning home from British Guiana; and G.C.M.G. in 1874.