Editing Harry Barron

{{Short description|Governor of Tasmania from 1909 to 1913, and Governor of Western Australia from 1913 to 1917}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=September 2020}}
{{Infobox officeholder
| honorific_prefix    = Major-General
| name                = Sir Harry Barron
| honorific_suffix    = {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|KCMG|CVO}}
| image               = HarryBarron.jpg
| birth_date          = 11 August 1847
| birth_place         = [[Denmark Hill]], [[Surrey]], England
| death_date          = {{d-da|27 March 1921|11 August 1847}}
| death_place         = [[Weybridge]], [[Surrey]], England
| spouse              = Clara Emily Kelly
| order               = 10th [[Governor of Tasmania]]
| term_start          = 29 September 1909
| term_end            = 9 March 1913
| monarch             = [[Edward VII]] <br/> [[George V]]
| predecessor         = [[Gerald Strickland|Sir Gerald Strickland]]
| successor           = [[William Ellison-Macartney|Sir William Ellison-Macartney]]
| order2              = 16th [[Governor of Western Australia]]
| monarch2            = George V
| term_start2         = 17 March 1913
| term_end2           = 8 April 1917
| premier2            = [[John Scaddan]] (1913–16)<br/>[[Frank Wilson (politician)|Frank Wilson]] (1916–17)
| predecessor2        = [[Gerald Strickland|Sir Gerald Strickland]]
| successor2          = [[William Ellison-Macartney|Sir William Ellison-Macartney]]
<!-- Military service -->| allegiance          = United Kingdom
| branch              = [[British Army]]
| serviceyears        = 1867–1909
| rank                = [[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]]
| commands            = 
| mawards             = [[Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]<br/>[[Commander of the Royal Victorian Order]]
}}
[[Major-general (United Kingdom)|Major General]] '''Sir Harry Barron''', {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|KCMG|CVO}} (11 August 1847 – 27 March 1921) was a [[British Army]] officer who served as [[Governor of Tasmania]] from 1909 to 1913, and [[Governor of Western Australia]] from 1913 to 1917.<ref name=HarryBolton>{{cite news|url=http://www.adb.online.anu.edu.au/biogs/A070196b.htm |title=Barron, Sir Harry (1847–1921) |first=G. C. |last=Bolton |publisher=[[Melbourne University Publishing]] |year=1979 |access-date=31 January 2010 |pages=190–191}}</ref>

==Early life==
Barron was born on 11 August 1847 to Elizabeth Pigeon, and Charles Barron of Denmark Hill in Surrey, England.<ref name="HarryBolton" /> He attended attended [[Stubbington House School]],<ref>{{cite web |title=BARRON, Maj.-Gen. Sir Harry |work=Who Was Who |publisher=-A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press |date=December 2007 |url=http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U193190 |access-date=1 December 2012}}{{Subscription required}}</ref> and then the Royal Military Academy.<ref name="HarryBolton" /> In 1877 he married [[Clara Barron|Clara Emily]], daughter of [[Major General]] T. Conyngham Kelly; they had one daughter Lilian Vaughan Barron,<ref>{{Cite web |title=Jersey, Church of England Births and Baptisms, 1813-1915 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/19674353 |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}}</ref> and a son Harry Montague Vaughan Barron who died in February 1909, aged 27, while a member of the Queen's Cameron Highlanders.<ref>{{cite news |date=16 July 1909 |title=STATE GOVERNOR AND HIS LADY. |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article50375901 |access-date=27 July 2024 |newspaper=The Examiner, Tasmania |location=Tasmania, Australia |page=5 |via=National Library of Australia |volume=LXVIII |issue=168}}</ref><ref>{{Cite web |title=Scotland, Select Births and Baptisms, 1564-1950 |url=https://www.ancestry.com/sharing/19674472 |access-date=2024-07-27 |website=Ancestry.com |language=en-US}}</ref><ref>{{Cite news |date=27 June 1881 |title=Linen Hall Library, Belfast, Northern Ireland. |url=https://www.ancestry.com.au/sharing/19674780?mark=7b22746f6b656e223a2236347533434858634e634a547a6942724b656c4f4f304c6a646f774c533969323338664550514f6e4e67553d222c22746f6b656e5f76657273696f6e223a225632227d |access-date=27 July 2024 |work=The Belfast Newsletter |location=Belfast, Northern Ireland |page=2 |via=Linen Hall Library, via Ancestry.com}}</ref>

== Career ==
Barron was commissioned as lieutenant in 1867 at the Royal Artillery, and in 1879 he was promoted to captain. He worked at the School of Gunnery in Shoeburyness in 1897 before becoming the commander of the Thames district Royal Artillery from 1900 until 1904. At this time he was promoted to major general, and he became the commander of the Royal Artillery in Malta until 1908. He was made a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order in 1907. As part of the [[1909 Birthday Honours]], he was made a Knight Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George. He retired from the army in June 1909.<ref>{{London Gazette|issue=28262|page=4768|date=22 June 1909}}</ref> 

A few months after their son Harry died, Barron and Clara moved to Australia in August 1909, where Barron served as the [[Governor of Tasmania]] until 1913, and then as [[Governor of Western Australia]] from 1913 to 1917.<ref name="HarryBolton" /><ref>{{cite news |date=9 July 1909 |title=SIR HARRY BARRON |url=http://nla.gov.au/nla.news-article242055476 |access-date=27 July 2024 |newspaper=The Herald |location=Victoria, Australia |page=1 |via=National Library of Australia |issue=10520}}</ref>

He retired to Weybridge Surrey, and in 1920, he was made colonel commandant of the [[Royal Artillery]]. He died on 27 March 1921.<ref name="HarryBolton" /> After he died, his wife continued to live in their Surrey Residence Swiss Cottage, however, there was a large mortgage on the property, and it was found that Barron had very little money as he had spent a large amount of his fortune while working as a governor, and he lost  money on failed Russian investments. His wife Clara had to sell her furniture and possessions, and seek financial assistance from her friends and charities. After she sustained a spinal cord injury in 1930, and with her mortgage debt exceeding the value of her property she was unable to afford the daily assistance she required for her disability. She made failed applications to increase her pension from the war office, and  get a pension for the governorships.<ref name=":0">{{Cite web |title=Application for pension by Lady Barron (widow of former Governor of Malta, Tasmania and Western Australia) in distressed circumstances |url=https://nla.gov.au/nla.obj-1885100211 |access-date=2024-07-26 |website=Trove |language=en}}</ref>

==References==
{{reflist}}

===Sources===
*[[Arthur Berriedale Keith|A. B. Keith]], Responsible Government in the Dominions, vol 1 (Oxford, 1928); Mercury (Hobart), 28 Dec 1912; West Australian (Perth), 13 Mar 1913, 3–8, 26, 27 Feb 1917.

{{s-start}}
{{s-gov}}
{{s-bef|before=[[Gerald Strickland|Sir Gerald Strickland]]|rows=2}}
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Tasmania]]|years=1909–1913}}
{{s-aft|after=[[William Ellison-Macartney|Sir William Ellison-Macartney]]|rows=2}}
|-
{{s-ttl|title=[[Governor of Western Australia]]|years=1913–1917}}
{{s-end}}

{{Governors of Tasmania}}
{{Governors of Western Australia}}

{{authority control}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barron, Harry}}
[[Category:1847 births]]
[[Category:1921 deaths]]
[[Category:People from Denmark Hill]]
[[Category:Graduates of the Royal Military Academy, Woolwich]]
[[Category:Royal Artillery officers]]
[[Category:British Army major generals]]
[[Category:Commanders of the Royal Victorian Order]]
[[Category:Governors of Tasmania]]
[[Category:Governors of Western Australia]]
[[Category:Knights Commander of the Order of St Michael and St George]]
[[Category:People educated at Stubbington House School]]
[[Category:Military personnel from the London Borough of Southwark]]
[[Category:19th-century British Army personnel]]
[[Category:20th-century British Army personnel]]