Reverend William Barry
(1803-1884)
27 June 1862

Volume 8, page 130, sitting number 10,142.

[An inked inscription verso identifies the sitter as 'Revd. William Barry' of 'Blisworth Rectory.']

William Barry was the son of John Barry of Whitby in Yorkshire, who, together with his brother Robert, established a successful business as a shipbuilder and shipowner. 

Born at Whitby in or about 1803, William went up to Cambrige in 1821, where he graduated with a BA from Trinity College in 1825 (MA, 1828). He was ordained a deacon in 1827 and a priest in 1828. He was the Rector of Long Stow in Cambridgeshire from 1836 to 1839, and in 1839 he was appointed the Rector of Blisworth in Northamptonshire. He evidently disapproved of the old Rectory for in 1841 he built a fine new Rectory, in Elizabethan style, with stables and a substantial coach house, all demolished in 1864 in order to widen the High Street. During Reverend Barry’s 45 years as Rector he oversaw many alterations and made many gifts to the church.

Reverend Barry appears on the 1861 census, living at Blisworth Rectory in Northamptonshire with his wife Frances; a son, George, aged 15; and a son, Henry, aged 13. At the time of the census, he was 58 years old, so he was born in or about 1803. He gave Whitby in Yorkshire as his place of birth. Mrs Barry, who was born in the East Indies, had five live-in servants to help run her household, including a lady's maid, a cook and a coachman.

Reverend William Barry died, aged 81, on 10 December 1884 at his parish in Blisworth. He left an estate valued at £60,680.