BARNES, Sir Edward (1776-1838), of Beech Hill Park, Mdx. and Berkeley Square, London; later of 105 Piccadilly, London

Barnes’s brief interludes as Conservative MP for the notoriously corrupt borough of Sudbury paled into insignificance alongside his ‘brave and accomplished’ career of military and colonial service.1The Times, 6 July 1838. One of his subordinates described him as ‘that perfect soldier’, inspiring devotion in his men, and ‘an exceedingly fine, handsome man’, although the disputes which prompted his recall from the post of commander-in-chief in India in 1833 suggested that he could also be intractable and self-aggrandizing.2H.A.J. Hulugalle, British governors of Ceylon (1963), 34. Barnes’s father, John, an Irishman, had been a pilot at the capture of Senegal (1758) and later served as its governor under the Royal African Company, 1763-5.3London Chronicle, 9 July 1763; D.P. Henige, Colonial governors from the fifteenth century to the present (1970), 170. Upon his return to Britain, he was a long-serving member of the Committee of Liverpool African Merchants, and also operated as a wine merchant in London, where Barnes was baptised.4Lancaster Gazette, 12 Aug. 1820; Collections historical & archaeological relating to Montgomeryshire and its borders (1892), xxvi. 236. Barnes was baptised at St. Andrew Undershaft, in the City of London, 22 Apr. 1777: IGI. Barnes entered the army in 1792 and, with frequent changes of regiment, within eight years had risen to the rank of major. In 1801 he served in the Egyptian expedition.5Morning Post, 10 Mar. 1837. He was lieutenant-governor of Dominica, 1808-12, for which he received £300 a year.6PP 1834 (519), vi. 570. He was present in the West Indies for at least part of that time, commanding a brigade at the capture of Martinique (1809) and Guadeloupe (1810).7C. Dalton (ed.), The Waterloo roll call (2nd edn., 1904), 29. In 1813 he was appointed lieutenant-general of the Leeward Islands, a sinecure (abolished in 1833, when Barnes was still the holder), but had already returned to Europe to fight in the Peninsula.8London Gazette, 18 Dec. 1813; PP 1833 (434), xxvi. 419. In 1829 the salary Barnes received for this post was £300: PP 1830 (273), xxvii. 331. He served on the staff in Spain and Portugal in 1812, and commanded a brigade in 1813 at the battles of Vitoria, the Pyrenees, Nivelle and Nive and in 1814 at Orthez.9The Times, 22 Mar. 1838. Wellington wrote in despatches following the battle of the Pyrenees that ‘it is impossible that I can extol too highly the conduct of Major-General Barnes, and those brave troops’.10Monthly Magazine (813), xxxvi. 163. Knighted in 1815, Barnes that year served as adjutant-general in France and the Netherlands, and was severely wounded in the shoulder at Waterloo, where he was known as ‘our fire eating adjutant-general’.11The Times, 22 Mar. 1838; Dalton, Waterloo roll call, 29; Caledonian Mercury, 6 Sept. 1821. He was rewarded with a Gold Cross and three clasps, as well as Russian and Austrian honours.12www.queensroyalsurreys.org.uk/colonels/056.html; A.S. Bolton, rev. J. Falkner, ‘Barnes, Sir Edward’, Oxf. DNB [www.oxforddnb.com].

In 1819 Barnes was appointed second in command on the staff at Ceylon, beginning a lengthy connection with that colony.13The Times, 2 Feb. 1819. When Ceylon’s governor, Sir Robert Brownrigg, departed in 1820, Barnes was appointed as lieutenant-governor to act until Brownrigg’s successor, Sir Edward Paget, arrived to relieve him in February 1822. Barnes instigated a programme of road-building, aiming to improve British control over the island. In 1822 he was appointed commander-in-chief of the forces in India, but disagreements with the civil authorities meant that he returned to England after less than a year. Paget was appointed commander-in-chief of India in his stead, and Barnes replaced him as governor and commander-in-chief of Ceylon from 1823, receiving an annual allowance of £10,000.14Hulugalle, British governors, 40; The Times, 16 Jan. 1823; PP 1834 (570), vi. 139. He arrived back in Ceylon in January 1824, accompanied by his new wife, Maria Fawkes, over twenty years his junior, ‘whom he idolized’. They entertained lavishly at the governor’s residence in Colombo, with one visitor recording that ‘it was all a whirl of riotous folly, very unlike the propriety of a Government House’, with Barnes ‘very fond of his bottle’.15Mrs. Smith, The memoirs of a Highland lady during her three weeks’ stay at Colombo, cited in Hulugalle, British governors, 44-5. He was said to have sketched the design for the Governor’s Pavilion at Kandy in claret after dinner16A. Wright, Twentieth century impressions of Ceylon (1907), 67., and also built Barnes Hall at Nuwara Eliya, which he helped to develop as a convalescent station.17‘Zeylanicus’ (pseud.), Ceylon between Orient and Occident (1970), 94; The Journal of Agriculture (1849-51), 633. More significantly, demonstrating ‘that energy which always characterized him’,18The Asiatic journal (1841), xxxiv. 221. he resumed his road-building schemes, and encouraged the cultivation of coffee, establishing his own plantation at Gannoruwa in 1825.19Wright, Twentieth century impressions of Ceylon, 66; ‘Zeylanicus’, Ceylon, 94. On Barnes’s recommendation the government reduced the import duty on Ceylon coffee to the same level as West Indian coffee: Ibid., 129. One historian of Ceylon argued that his contribution to the island’s prosperity was ‘not surpassed by that of any other Governor’, and this favourable verdict is echoed by other accounts.20Hulugalle, British governors, 39. See also Wright, Twentieth century impressions of Ceylon, 67; ‘Zeylanicus’, Ceylon, 94. Barnes was, however, hostile to the reforms of Ceylonese administration proposed by the Colebrooke-Cameron commission, which reported in 1831-2, disapproving of suggestions that local people should have a share in government and be admitted to the civil service.21‘Zeylanicus’, Ceylon, 99-100; PP 1831-32 (274), xxxii. 65ff.

In November 1830 Barnes had provisionally been appointed commander-in-chief of India, to succeed the earl of Dalhousie, and took up this post in 1831, arriving in India that November.22Morning Post, 15 Dec. 1830; E. Barnes to W.C. Bentinck, 5 Dec. 1831, in C.H. Philips (ed.), The correspondence of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck Governor-General of India 1828-1835 (1977), i. 720. Barnes retained property in Ceylon, including Barnes Hall and his coffee plantation, after his departure from the colony: Hulugalle, British governors, 48. Although Barnes was commended to India’s governor-general, Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, as ‘an officer of approved services, and of sound judgment and discretion’, Bentinck was not predisposed to think well of him, having heard that ‘he is much addicted to gambling, a vice requiring in this army the strong hand of power to put it down rather than the encouragement of high example’.23William Astell to W.C. Bentinck, 14 Oct. 1830, in Philips, Correspondence of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, i. 532. Unsurprisingly, the two men had a fraught relationship from the start, reflecting the view that, having been in control of affairs in Ceylon, Barnes was ill-suited to a lesser role in India.24For other criticisms of Barnes along these lines, see Lord Clare to W.C. Bentinck, 26 Mar. 1832, in Ibid., ii. 784; The Times, 27 Aug. 1833. In May 1832 Bentinck complained to Charles Grant, president of the board of control, that Barnes was ‘violent, wrong-headed and excessively jealous of his authority’, and later told the chairman of the East India Company that Barnes

cannot accept subordination, [is] self-conceited to an extreme and equally self-willed, high tempered, dictating to us all... He appears to have fine military qualities, open, manly, supporting discipline, intelligent and clever, but not well-judging... besides the working of his natural character, [he] has been too long the uncontrolled dictator of a separate kingdom, to allow him to play willingly an inferior part.25W.C. Bentinck to C. Grant, 1 May 1832, in Philips, Correspondence of Lord William Cavendish Bentinck, ii. 806; W.C. Bentinck to J.G. Ravenshaw, 19 Aug. 1832, in Ibid., ii. 874-5.

Bentinck was not the only one to find fault with Barnes’s ‘pretensions’: Lord Clare, governor of Bombay, noted that ‘I hear from all quarters that he and his wife, a large painted Jezebel, are very unpopular’.26Lord Clare to W.C. Bentinck, 26 Mar. 1832, in Ibid., ii. 784. For his part, Barnes disclaimed any ambition ‘to intermeddle with government affairs’ beyond his remit, and found a lack of respect for his authority as commander-in-chief.27E. Barnes to W.C. Bentinck, 5 Aug. 1832, 9 Aug. 1832, in Ibid., ii. 866, 869. Ongoing concerns about Barnes’s lack of subordination ended with the Cabinet’s decision in May 1833 to recall him, overcoming the king’s ‘lingering reluctance’ to dismiss ‘so distinguished an officer’.28C. Grant to W.C. Bentinck, 13 May 1833, in Ibid., ii. 1064-5. Having attempted to reverse the decision, Barnes arrived back in England in July 1834, but although he was rumoured for the post of commander-in-chief of Ireland in 1835, this marked the end of his overseas service.29W.C. Bentinck to Gen. Lord Hill, 7 Dec. 1833, in Ibid., ii. 1162; The Standard, 12 July 1834; The Times, 9 May 1835.

Almost immediately upon his return from India ‘with a sack of pagodas’, Barnes secured a parliamentary seat, apparently hoping to use it ‘to redress his own supposed wrongs’.30Sudbury borough (Suffolk), undated MS [?1842] in possession of A.T. Copsey, f. 7; An account of the vindictive conduct of the corporation party in the borough of Sudbury, towards a few spirited individuals who had the courage to oppose them at the late election [?1835], 5. His brother-in-law, Digby Wrangham, former MP for Sudbury, introduced him there for the vacancy caused by the death of the Whig incumbent, and although he professed to be ‘of no party’, Barnes was backed by the Conservative-controlled corporation.31Bury & Norwich Post, 23 July 1834. Barnes’s wife and Wrangham’s wife were sisters. In a tightly-fought and corrupt contest, Barnes and his Liberal opponent each secured 263 votes.32An account of the vindictive conduct of the corporation party in the borough of Sudbury, 5. Rather than making a double return, the mayor, who had already polled for Barnes, declared him elected. Having left most of the speechmaking at the nomination to his supporters (other than to emphasise his experience in colonial administration), Barnes after his return endorsed the maintenance of church and state, and repeal of the malt tax, and proceeded around the town dressed in his uniform and medals, but retreated when the crowd began to throw stones and other missiles.33Essex Standard, 26 July 1834, 2 Aug. 1834; Bury & Norwich Post, 30 July 1834. A petition against his return was lodged, 2 Aug. 1834, but Parliament was prorogued the day before it was due to be considered.34An account of the vindictive conduct of the corporation party in the borough of Sudbury, 6. In his only known contribution to debate, Barnes objected to the abolition of military flogging until some suitable alternative could be found, declaring substitutes such as solitary confinement ‘liable to great objections or quite impracticable’, 8 Aug. 1834.

Barnes sought re-election in 1835, when he observed that men ‘of tried integrity’ should be returned, but was silent as to what course he would pursue in Parliament. Attacked for supporting the retention of flogging in the army, he said that he would not have voted for it if a substitute were available.35Bury & Norwich Post, 7 Jan. 1835. Although he and his fellow Conservative reportedly spent £10,000 to their opponents’ £7,000, they were defeated.36A.W. Berry, Years of transition. Sudbury, Suffolk in the 1830s and 1840s (2001), 25. Barnes’s absence from Parliament was regretted by the Morning Post, which was impressed by his speech on Conservative reform at a dinner in February 1835.37Morning Post, 17 Feb. 1835. Indeed given the brevity of Barnes’s electioneering speeches, he proved surprisingly loquacious on other occasions. At the annual dinner of the South Lancashire Conservative Association that October, he praised such bodies, and argued that the Conservatives were not opposed to cheap government, but to ‘that which in vulgar language was called “Cheap and nasty”... What the Conservatives sought to establish was a Government which should be respected at home, and if not feared, at least held in reverential awe, abroad’.38Morning Post, 17 Oct. 1835. Addressing the Marylebone Constitutional Association in 1837, he argued for the right of army officers to voice ‘any opinions they might entertain on public men and measures’, which ‘had never been disputed’ until the current ministry took office.39Morning Post, 17 Mar. 1837.

Barnes had meanwhile taken on another public role, having being appointed as one of the commissioners to inquire into punishment in the army, and particularly whether corporal punishment could be abandoned.40London Gazette, 10 Mar. 1835. In its March 1836 report, the commission concluded that there was no suitable substitute for flogging, but urged that ‘no pains may be spared to endeavour to make its infliction less frequent’, and made suggestions to improve the system of discipline, including greater discretion for commanding officers, more recreational facilities, and rewards for good behaviour.41PP 1836 [59], xxii. 11, 17, 19, 20, 22.

As a member of the Order of the Bath, Barnes performed a ceremonial role at the king’s funeral in July 1837, and at the ensuing general election offered for Sudbury.42London Gazette, 13 July 1837. Forced on to the defensive by the efforts of one of the Liberal candidates, William Smith, to make political capital out of his support for military flogging, Barnes declared that the evidence had ‘compelled’ the commissioners to recommend its retention, which he clearly saw as a necessary evil in the absence of an effective alternative. Smith attacked Barnes personally, citing statements from those who had served under him in Portugal and Barbados that he was ‘a most arbitrary and tyrannical man’, and ‘as cruel a soldier as ever wore a sword’. He also accused Barnes of making an ‘inflammatory’ campaign speech – ‘worse than Cobbett’ – against the poor law. This contest was Barnes’s cheapest, for both parties took a stand against bribery, much to the disgust of Sudbury’s venal voters, who thwarted an attempted compromise to share the representation by returning both Conservatives, with Barnes topping the poll.43Essex Standard, 28 July 1837. He returned to London to second Henry Pownall’s nomination at Westminster.44The Standard, 31 July 1837.

Barnes apparently voted only seven times in his final session, before his death in March 1838 at his London residence, 105 Piccadilly.45Ipswich Journal, 24 Mar. 1838. He generally divided with the Conservatives, and his last known vote, reflecting his military interests, was in support of accelerating promotion in the marines, 27 Feb. 1838. He did not live to see the first general meeting, two weeks after his death, of the Army and Navy Club, of which he and Admiral Bowles were the founders.46Dalton, Waterloo roll call, 29. As there were an excessive number of candidates on the Junior United Service Club’s waiting list, he and other army officers had resolved in 1837 to establish a new club, open to all army officers on full or half pay. Wellington declined to be a patron or member unless marines and navy officers were included, and thus the institution became the Army and Navy Club.47‘St. James’s Square: Army and Navy Club’, Survey of London: volumes 29 and 30: St James Westminster, Part 1 (1960), 180-6. Nor did Barnes see the birth of his youngest daughter in May 1838.48The Standard, 18 May 1838. His oldest surviving son, Edward (c.1828-1909), followed in his father’s footsteps as an army officer, while his younger son Richard Hawkesworth (1831-1904) spent some time as a coffee planter in Ceylon.49The Times, 15 July 1854; The Times, 4 Mar. 1904, 14 Apr. 1909. Barnes had another son, born in August 1827, but it is not known whether he was living at the time of Barnes’s death: Caledonian Mercury, 26 Jan. 1828. An unconfirmed source suggests that Barnes fathered an illegitimate son in Ceylon, possibly by the ayah for whom he purchased a garden, and whose child it was suggested should be entrusted to Barnes’s care in England, as ‘he is so like him’.50R. Ellis, Sri Lanka (2nd edn., 2005), 209; Hulugalle, British governors, 49. Soon after Barnes’s death a subscription was started for a statue to him in Colombo, which was unveiled in 1847.51Morning Chronicle, 19 Oct. 1838; Hulugalle, British governors, 44; Allen’s Indian Mail (1847), v. 525. It was a testament to his local popularity that his statue attracted so many offerings that railings had to be erected to prevent it being turned into an idol.52Hulugalle, British governors, 44. Material relating to Barnes’s service as Wellington’s adjutant-general is held by Southampton University Library, while his correspondence with Bentinck on Indian affairs is held by Nottingham University Library.