John Henry Barlow
| John Henry Barlow | |
|---|---|
 |
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| Born |
3 October 1855 Edinburgh |
| Died | 8 August 1924 (aged 68) Selly Oak, Birmingham |
| Nationality | British |
| Known for | Peace activism |
| Spouse(s) | Mabel Barlow |
| Children | four |
| Parent(s) | John Barlow, Eliza Barlow |
John Henry Barlow (1855 – 1924) was widely referred to as ‘The outstanding Quaker statesman of his generation'. He was also an outstanding ambassador for peace during the war years and as clerk of London Yearly Meeting for seven crucial years was the person, who more than anyone held the Society together at a taxing moment in its history. He was one of the first members of the Friends' Ambulance Unit. He was the first Secretary and general manager of the Bournville Village Trust, serving the trust for 23 years. In 1920 he led a delegation to Ireland to look into the Black and Tans atrocities.
Descended from two old Quaker families, John Henry was born in Edinburgh in 1855 the son of John Barlow of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh University and his wife Eliza Nicholson. His Father, one of the most respected scientists of his generation, died tragically young at the age of 40 in 1856 when JHB was hardly a year old and the money that he had left to provide for his wife and family, was mostly lost due to the almost simultaneous collapse of The Glasgow Bank and the Cornish tin mine in which he had invested and as there was no limited liability then, Eliza Barlow was left in a bad way financially. Consequently, he was brought up by his Mother and the assistance of Quaker cousins first in Edinburgh and later in Carlisle where she moved to be with her sister Mary, who had married Jonathan Carr, the founder of Carr’s Biscuits.
He went to the Quaker School, Stramongate in Kendal but because of the family’s financial situation, he was not able to continue to University and study medicine as he would have liked to do, to follow in his father’s footsteps. He had to help to augment the family finances and joined The Clydesdale Bank, where he did well and the extra income enabled the family to prosper and by 1881 they had moved to Murrell Hill Cottage in Carlisle, where Eliza Barlow was to remain till she died in 1894.
As he grew older, John Henry devoted more and more time to good causes, often giving talks to the Temperance League with his cousins Bertram and Theodore Carr. His name soon became well known all over the city for the great social work he did among the poor communities especially in Willow Holme, a run down area of the City. In 1889 he left the Bank to become secretary of Carr’s Biscuits where he got to know another Quaker, Ernest Hutchinson, who had recently moved to Carlisle to a house in Goshen Road, to become manager of Carr’s. Ernest had recently married Louie Cash and before long John Henry met her sister Mabel Cash whom he subsequently married in 1895.
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