Barber was born into one of the leading families of the borough of Stafford, and, more importantly, into the service of Humphrey Stafford, earl of Stafford and (from 1444) duke of Buckingham. His father, who represented the borough in three Parliaments, was the earl’s receiver-general in the 1420s and 1430s, and our MP was a yeoman in the earl’s household by 1438. In March 1441 the earl bound him and his brother, William, more closely to his service by granting them each life annuities of five marks. Five years later, the duke granted the brothers, as their father’s executors, the further indulgence of releasing to them all debts due to him from their father’s time as his receiver.
Not surprisingly most of what is known of John relates to his service to this great lord. In 1450, for example, he acted as a feoffee in the duke’s purchase from Sir William Trussell† of the manor of Kibblestone (Staffordshire), and in 1452 he did the same in respect of a messuage in Stafford that the duke settled in jointure on the duchess.
The probability is that Barber did not long survive his parliamentary service, for he disappears from the records after serving as bailiff of his native borough in 1457. He was certainly dead by the mid 1460s. This is clear from the dispute between his two sons that came before the chancellor in 1473. His second son, Robert, complained against the conduct of both his elder brother, Humphrey, and his father’s surviving feoffees, Thomas Hextall* and a clerk, William Alkyn. He alleged that they had colluded to thwart his father’s will, namely that Joan, mother of both the complainant and Humphrey, should have a life estate in the manor of Haseley (in Berkswich near Stafford), and Robert should, on her death, enjoy an estate in fee simple. The outcome of the dispute is unknown, but Hextall in his defence claimed that, more than seven years after our MP’s death, he had complied with Humphrey’s request to release his right in the disputed manor.