page_title: William Swinden Barber
section_title: Ancestors
hierarchical_section_title: William Swinden Barber / Background / Ancestors
caption_attribution_description: English: Barker Royde Farm, Southowram Evidently a mill built next to a farm, but strangely not named as a mill on the old OS maps. It was built around 1849 to the order of William Barber, grandfather of architect William Swinden Barber and used as a mill for manufacturing carding equipment. It was later used as a store for Marshall's Quarry. It was bought by the owner of the farm in the 1970s and used for storage. It is now apartments.
context_page_description: William Swinden Barber FRIBA, also W. S. Barber or W. Swinden Barber, was an English Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts architect, specialising in modest but finely furnished Anglican churches. The Barber churches often had crenellated bell-towers. He was based in Brighouse and Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. At least 15 surviving examples of his work are Grade II listed buildings including his 1875 design for the Victoria Cross at Akroydon. An 1864 portrait by David Wilkie Wynfield depicts him in Romantic garb, holding a flower. He served in the Artists Rifles regiment in the 1860s alongside Wynfield and other contemporary artists.
context_section_description: Barber's great-great-grandfather was Joshua Barber. Joshua was the ancestor of three main branches of the Barber family: at Southowram, Brighouse and Rastrick. William Swinden Barber was descended from the Southowram branch, and he produced work at Brighouse and Rastrick.
  Joshua's second child, baptised at Cleckheaton Independent Chapel, was John (1727–1810) who was William Swinden Barber's great-grandfather. John married Sarah Schofield and their seventh child was William.
  Barber's grandfather was William Barber (1768–1844), baptised at Cleckheaton Independent Chapel. He arrived at Halifax from Mirfield around 1797 when he married Ann Charlton of Dewsbury. They had eight children, of whom John was the third. They moved to Barker Royde at Southowram and lived in an eighteenth century farmhouse called Barker Royde Farm; it incorporates a stone on which is carved "WB 1849." Close to the farmhouse, William built a four-storey mill called Barker Royde Mill, to make carding equipment and belting for the mechanised woollen industry. This mill was constructed during William Swinden Barber's childhood, when he would have witnessed and possibly been inspired by the works. The 1841 census finds William Barber at Barker Royde Farm, aged 75 with his wife Mary aged 70 and his daughter Sarah aged 30. William and his wife are described as being of independent means. They have two employees with them: an agricultural labourer and a servant.
  Barber's father was John Barber (1800–1883). On 19 April 1831 he married Sally "Sarah" Swinden (1793–1881) at Dewsbury. William Swinden Barber was their only child. In 1841 he was at Valley Top at Southowram with his wife Sarah; both are listed in the Census as 40 years of age and John is described as independent. Ann Barber, aged 25, described as a servant, is with them, but their son William Swinden Barber is absent. John was a card-maker at Southowram at Barker Royde Mill with his father William: a joint mill-owner. In 1845 he was living at Slead Cottage, Chapel Lane, Southowram. The 1851 Census finds John, a card manufacturer aged 50, and his wife Sarah aged 55 living at 38 Lark Field, Hipperholme with Brighouse, with their son William Swinden Barber, an apprentice architect aged 19. Their house servant Ann Barber is still with them. John was a card-maker; that is, he made carding equipment for the wool industry at Lark Field and at Victoria Mill, Brighouse. In 1861 John and Sarah, aged 60 and 67, were still at Lark Field. They had two servants and John was still a card maker employing twelve men and two boys. In 1871 John was still at Lark Field with Sarah and two servants, but had retired. John and his son William Swinden Barber bought Bonegate Hall (built 1635) at Brighouse. In 1881 John a widower aged 80, now a retired card maker, was living in Hipperholme with Brighouse with one servant.
caption: Barker Royde Mill, Southowram, built for Barber's grandfather
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