# Dictionary of National Biography, 1912 supplement/Barry, Alfred

​BARRY, ALFRED (1826–1910), primate of Australia and canon of Windsor, born at Ely Place, Holborn, on 15 Jan. 1826, was second son of Sir Charles Barry [q. v.], architect, whose 'Life and Works' he published (1867 ; 2nd ed. 1870), and elder brother of Edward Middleton Barry [q. v.], whose Royal Academy lectures on architecture he edited with a memoir in 1881. His mother was Sarah, daughter of Samuel Rowsell. His youngest brother is Sir John Wolfe Wolfe Barry, K.C.B., the civil engineer. Educated at King's College, London, from 1841 to 1844, Barry proceeded in 1844 to Trinity College, Cambridge ; in 1848 he was placed fourth among the ​wranglers, Isaac Todhunter [q. v.] being senior, and seventh in the first class of classical tripos, C. B. Scott and Brooke Foss Westcott [q. v. Suppl. II] being bracketed senior. He also won the second Smith's prize, the first going to Todhunter. Barry was elected a fellow of Trinity the same year. He graduated B.A. in 1848, proceeding M.A. in 1851, B.D. in 1860, and D.D. in 1866.
Ordained deacon in 1850 on the title of his fellowship, and priest in 1853, Barry became in 1849 vice-principal of Trinity College, Glenalmond, the seminary of the Scottish Episcopal church. In 1854 he became headmaster of Leeds grammar school. From 1862 to 1868 he was principal of Cheltenham College, and during his tenure of office there were built the gymnasium (1864), the junior school (1865), and five of the boarding houses. He was made a life member of the college council in 1893 (Cheltonian, May 1910).
In 1868 Barry was appointed, in succession to Richard William Jelf [q. v.], principal of King's College, London, of which he had been a fellow since 1849. Here Barry arranged that students for the theological associateship could attend evening classes for two years, without sacrificing their employment by day, devoting their whole time to their college course only in their third year. He encouraged the establishment of a ladies' branch of the college at Kensington, a scheme carried out in 1881.
In 1871 Gladstone made him a residentiary canon at Worcester, and in 1881 transferred him to a similar office in Westminster Abbey. Appointed honorary chaplain to Queen Victoria in 1875 and chaplain in ordinary 1879, he also held the Boyle lectureship 1876-8. He published the first series as 'What is Natural Theology?' (1877) and the second series as 'The Manifold Witness for Christ' (1880). He was made D.C.L. of Oxford in 1870 and of Durham in 1888.
After refusing the see of Calcutta in 1876, Barry in 1883 accepted the see of Sydney, Australia. With the office went the metropolitanate of New South Wales and the primacy of Australia and Tasmania. He was thus head of 'a general synod embracing all the dioceses of Australia and Tasmania' (Barry, Ecclesiastical Expansion, 1895, p. 255; Digest of S.P.G. Records, 1895, pp. 761, 766). He was consecrated in Westminster Abbey on 1 Jan. 1884, Westcott preaching the sermon (Life and Letters of B. F. Westcott, 1903, ii. 1, 2; E. Stock, History of C.M.S., 1899, iii. 311-312). Misfortune attended his departure, He sent on his entire library, lectures, and manuscripts in a vessel which was lost by shipwreck. Queen Victoria and others showed their sympathy by endeavouring to replace the books.
Barry's vigour of intellect adapted itself, to the unfamiliar conditions and conceptions of colonial life, and his good judgment and clearness of utterance stood him in good stead, when he presided over the provincial or the general synod. He successfully urged the Australian church to accept in 1886 missionary responsibility for New Guinea. Barry's residence in Sydney was not prolonged enough to give his abilities their full opportunity there. For private reasons he constantly revisited England during the five years of his Australian episcopate. He vacated his office in 1889.
Having been vainly recommended for various English sees, e.g. Chester in 1884 (J. C. Macdonnell, Life and Correspondence of W. C. Magee, 1896, ii. 255), Barry devoted himself to helping bishops at home. From 1889 to 1891 he was assistant to A. W. Thorold [q. v.], bishop of Rochester, and in 1891 he took charge of the diocese of Exeter during the absence in Japan of Bishop Edward Henry Bickersteth [q. v. Suppl. II]. From 1891 till his death he was canon of St. George's Chapel, Windsor. In 1892 he was chosen Bampton lecturer at Oxford, taking as his subject 'Some Lights of Science on Faith.' He was Hulsean lecturer at Cambridge for 1894, and gave a masterly review of the 'Ecclesiastical Expansion of England in the Growth of the Anglican Communion.' From 1895 to 1900 he held the rectory of St. James, Piccadilly, rendering episcopal assistance in central London to Frederick Temple [q. v. Suppl. II], bishop of London. After 1900 he confined himself to his canonry at Windsor. He represented the chapter in the lower house of convocation from 1893 until 1908. He died in his sleep at his residence in the cloisters, Windsor Castle, on 1 April 1910, and was buried in the cloisters at Worcester Cathedral, beside his only daughter, Mary Louisa (d. 1880). He married, on 13 Aug. 1851, Louisa Victoria, daughter of T. S. Hughes (d. 1847), canon of Peterborough. She survived him with two sons. A portrait painted by Sir Edward Poynter, P.R.A., was presented to Mrs. Barry by his King's College friends in 1883.
Of fine presence and with a sonorous ​voice, Barry was an effective speaker and preacher. A broad churchman, he avoided enthusiasm, and his manner seemed distant and unsympathetic save to his intimates. His chief works, apart from separate sermons and the lectures already mentioned, were: 1. 'Introduction to the Study of the Old Testament,' 1856 (incomplete). 2. 'Sermons preached in the Chapel of Cheltenham College,' 1865. 3. 'Sermons for Boys or Memorials of Cheltenham Sundays,' 1869. 4. 'The Architect of the New Palace at Westminster,' a reply to a pamphlet by E. W. Pugin, 2 edits. 1868. 5. 'The Atonement of Christ,' 1871. 6. 'Sermons preached at Westminster Abbey,' 1884. 7. 'First Words in Australia,' 1884. 8. 'Lectures on Christianity and Socialism,' 1890. 9. 'The Teacher's Prayer-Book,' 1884; 16th edit. 1898, a popular handbook. 10. 'England's Mission to India,' 1895. 11. 'The Position of the Laity in the Church,' 1895, 12. 'The Christian Sunday; its Sacredness and its Blessing,' 1905. 13. 'Do we Believe? The Law of Faith perfected in Christ,' 1908
[The Times, 2 April 1910; Guardian, 8 April 1910; Crockford, Clerical Directory, 1909; Burke's Family Records; private information.]
E. H. P.