William Henry Barry
William Henry Barry (1824-1890)
1890 Obituary [1]
WILLIAM KENRY BARRY, son of Mr. Frederick Barry, and a nephew of the late Sir Charles Barry, the architect of the Houses of Parliament, was born in London on the 2nd of October, 1824, and was educated at the King’s school, Canterbury. Here he distinguished himself by his ability and assiduity, and obtained several prizes.
On quitting school, it was determined that he should follow the profession of a Civil Engineer, and with this view he entered the Applied Sciences Department at King’s College, London, then recently opened, and known as the Engineering Department. He followed his studies there with the keenest interest, earning the marked approval and good-will of all the Professors, but perhaps particularly the late Professors of Mechanics and of Chemistry, Moseley and Daniell.
At about this period an event occurred which compelled him most unwillingly to change his career; his father, a member of the Stock Exchange, died after a protracted illness, leaving a widow and family dependent upon the business, and the duty of carrying it on devolved upon the subject of this memoir. He was indeed successful in this career as he would, doubtless, have been in any pursuit to which he addressed his energies and his abilities - but engineering remained the subject of his predilections; he abandoned it with the greatest reluctance, and would, in all human probability, have risen to high eminence in it had he been able to follow it as a vocation. As it was, he took an active interest in all works of engineering, and in the engineering features of those public enterprises which came before him in the course of his business.
He was elected an Associate of the Institution on the 5th of April, 1859, and was for many years a most regular attendant at the meetings ; he also accepted the duties of Auditor in the years 1876 and 1877. Of Mr. Barry’s character in social life it is difficult to speak too highly. Genial, active, zealous, honourable in the highest degree, and ever unselfish, he was not only the firm friend of those who formed his own circle, but the generous helper of the young, and of those who needed encouragement and assistance. As an evidence of the esteem in which Mr. Barry’s abilities were held at King’s College, it may be mentioned that, even after he had entered upon business, he was invited by the late Professor Moseley to collaborate with him on the publication of his “Principles of Engineering and Architecture.”
Mr. Barry died on the 15th of January, 1890.