John Barrow

Sir John Barrow (1764-1848)[1] was an English explorer, geographer, diplomat and author.

Biography

Born in Dragley Beck, Lancashire, Barrow started out working in an iron foundry, but at the age of 16 went on a whaling expedition to Greenland and by his twenties had become a mathematics teacher at a private school in Greenwich. From 1792–94 he was attached to the British embassy in China, in the household of Lord Macartney.

He traveled to South Africa in 1797 as private secretary to Lord Macartney and was sent to the interior , "entrusted with the task of reconciling the Boer settlers and the native Black population and of reporting on the country in the interior"[2], writing a report in two volumes, containing sketches and much needed maps.

This work and his many subsequent publications made a great contribution to the geographical knowledge of time, earned him fame as author, explorer and geographer. Barrow later worked as a diplomat in the Cape Colony, having married a local botanic artist, and settled in South Africa in 1800. In 1804 he returned to England and was appointed Second Secretary to the Admiralty, a post he would hold till 1845.

Over the years he eagerly promoted British exploration of West Africa and the North Polar Regions, and (Barrow Strait, Barrow Sound and Barrow Point in the Arctic and Cape Barrow in the Antarctic were all named in his honour for example). In addition he was a founder member and key figure in the influential Royal Geographical Society.

Contribution to SA theatre, film, media and/or performance

The account of his travels in South Africa, published in two volumes as Travels into the interior of Southern Africa (London, T. Cadell and W. Davies, 1801-1802, new edition 1806) is a very useful source of incidental and contextual information about late 18th century culture and performance in Southern Africa, and has been used by F.C.L. Bosman, Jill Fletcher, Réné Juta, Elizabeth Conradie, and others. Also published in Dutch translation as Reizen in de Binnelanden van het Zuidelyk Deel van Afrika in de Jaren 1797 en 1798 (Haarlem, F Bohn, 1803.)