John Henry Barlow

John Henry Barlow (1855 – 1924) was widely referred to as ‘The outstanding Quaker statesman of his generation'. He was also an outstanding ambassador for peace during the war years and as clerk of London Yearly Meeting for seven crucial years was the person, who more than anyone held the Society together at a taxing moment in its history. He was one of the first members of the Friends' Ambulance Unit. He secured the exemption clause in the Military Service Act 1916 for people to opt out of conscription on grounds of conscience. He was the first Secretary and general manager of the Bournville Village Trust, serving the trust for 23 years. In 1920 he led a delegation to Ireland to look into the Black and Tans atrocities.

Descended from two old Quaker families, John Henry was born in Edinburgh in 1855 the son of John Barlow of the Royal (Dick) School of Veterinary Studies, Edinburgh University and his wife Eliza Nicholson. His Father, one of the most respected scientists of his generation, died tragically young at the age of 40 in 1856 when JHB was hardly a year old and the money that he had left to provide for his wife and family, was mostly lost due to the almost simultaneous collapse of The Glasgow Bank and the Cornish tin mine in which he had invested and as there was no limited liability then, Eliza Barlow was left in a bad way financially. Consequently, he was brought up by his Mother and the assistance of Quaker cousins first in Edinburgh and later in Carlisle where she moved to be with her sister Mary, who had married Jonathan Carr, the founder of Carr’s Biscuits.

He went to the Quaker School, Stramongate in Kendal but because of the family’s financial situation, he was not able to continue to University and study medicine as he would have liked to do, to follow in his father’s footsteps. He had to help to augment the family finances and joined The Clydesdale Bank, where he did well and the extra income enabled the family to prosper and by 1881 they had moved to Murrell Hill Cottage in Carlisle, where Eliza Barlow was to remain till she died in 1894.

As he grew older, John Henry devoted more and more time to good causes, often giving talks to the Temperance League with his cousins Bertram and Theodore Carr. His name soon became well known all over the city for the great social work he did among the poor communities especially in Willow Holme, a run down area of the City. In 1889 he left the Bank to become secretary of Carr’s Biscuits where he got to know another Quaker, Ernest Hutchinson, who had recently moved to Carlisle to a house in Goshen Road, to become manager of Carr’s. Ernest had recently married Louie Cash and before long John Henry met her sister Mabel Cash whom he subsequently married in 1895.

Ernest and John Henry decided to revive the good work that the Carr’s eldest son, Henry had begun but which had by then somewhat languished. Mabel Barlow wrote in the memoir of her husband, that she wrote for their children in 1927, that Willow Holme “was a dark and dangerous neighbourhood... with drunken brawls and horrible fights between women as well as men; terrified shrieks issued as wife or child was being ill-treated...” but the love and energy of these two along with Lou Hutchinson produced great results. Other Quakers came and helped including their cousin, Richard Cadbury from the chocolate firm and it was here that many young people received their first lessons in reading and writing; there was also a club room for the boys where John Henry used to go and read stories and organise games for them.

Eventually, Richard and his brother George Cadbury, impressed by the work he was doing in Carlisle invited him in 1900, to become the first manager of the newly formed Bournville Village Trust (BVT), the experiment in housing that he eventually established with John Henry’s help, to house the poor from the city of Birmingham as well as those who worked at the Cadbury factory. This was to prove his life’s work and he remained in Birmingham until he died in 1924, a task carried on by his youngest son F. Ralph Barlow.

John Henry's grandson, Antony Barlow unveils a plaque at his grandfather's former home Sunnybrae.

John Henry and his wife moved to Birmingham, living first at Woodbrooke, still then the Cadbury home, before it became the Quaker College in 1903, but later moving into a house, Sunnybrae near the Bournville Estate provided by George Cadbury. He worked indefatigably for the Trust, studying housing developments over Europe and becoming a leading authority on community housing and chairing committees for Lloyd George and influencing people such as Henrietta Barnett, the founder of Hampstead Garden Suburb.

On his retirement in 1923, Mr Aldridge, Chairman of The National Housing Council wrote “Your work has been of vital concern to the housing movement. In fact, what this would have been without the example of Bournville … I can hardly conceive.” Elizabeth Cadbury, then Chairman of the BVT wrote “The Trustees of the Bournville Village Trust, on the retirement of John Henry Barlow, wish to record their high appreciation of his devoted service … For over twenty two years he has directed the administration and development of the Estate. … They know that the work which he has so lovingly performed has not only served the community which has immediately benefited from it, but will live as an example for all who follow this pioneer movement for housing reform. In addition, his public work in other spheres, has won him the honour and respect of all with whom he has come in contact.”

In 1915 he was chosen to lead a delegation to the Netherlands to try and persuade the non aligned countries to come together to find a basis for peace negotiations. It is this ‘work in other spheres’ for which he will also be long remembered. He was Clerk of Quaker Yearly meeting from 1913, all through 1915 and 1916 at a difficult time for Friends with war on everyone’s mind; in 1920 he was chosen to head up a Quaker delegation to Ireland (see below) to appraise the situation during the atrocities being committed by the Black and Tans; and in 1922 he was the obvious choice to act as the British representative at the Five Year Quaker conference in Richmond, Indiana. It is probably not an exaggeration to say that it was largely due to John Henry’s breadth of outlook, wisdom, sympathy and patience, as well as “the power of decision and the judgement in presiding over deliberations of a large body of people of varying minds that Friends were able to come through this taxing moment in its history on the outbreak of war”.

The Defence of the Realm Act which was passed in the United Kingdom in 1914, during the early weeks of World War I, gave the government wide-ranging powers during the war period, such as the power to requisition buildings or land needed for the war effort, or to make regulations creating criminal offences. In particular it ushered in a variety of authoritarian social control mechanisms, such as censorship.

When the act was brought in, as the leading Quaker, John Henry Barlow, on behalf of the Friends Service Committee recommended signing the document, only with the following provision: “whilst registering as a citizen in conformity with the demand of the Government, I cannot conscientiously take part in military service, in any employment necessitating the taking of a military oath, nor in the production of materials, the object of which is the taking of human life.”

Regulation 27C ordered that no pamphlet or similar publication dealing with the war or the making of peace should be issued without being first passed by the Censor. It was decided by Meeting for Sufferings that to submit to this would be to give up the whole case for liberty of speech.

The Minute, carefully drafted by John Henry said: “the Executive body of the Society of Friends, after serious consideration, desires to place on record its conviction that the portion of the recent regulations requiring the submission to the Censor of all leaflets dealing with the present war and the making of peace is a grave danger to the national welfare. The duty of every good citizen to express his thoughts on the affairs of his country is hereby endangered, and further we believe that Christianity requires the toleration of opinions not our own.

“Beyond this there is a deeper issue involved. It is for Christians a paramount duty to be free to obey, and to act and speak in accord with the law of God, a law higher than that of any State and no government can release men from this duty.

“We realize the rarity of the occasions on which a body of citizens find their sense of duty to be in conflict with the law and it is with a sense of gravity of the decision that The Society of Friends must on this occasion act contrary to the regulation and continue to issue literature on war and peace without submitting it to the censor and is thus acting in the best interests of the nation”

Friend’s Committees continued to issue pamphlets on behalf of the Society such as ‘A Challenge to Militarism’ which contained information about people who had been imprisoned for their beliefs as well as opposition to the war through such leafleting. In particular, two ladies were arrested but released with their summonses deferred, until proceedings should be taken against the authors, which was as a result of the Friends Service Committee acting on behalf of Yearly Meeting. Other members of the Committee were already in jail.

The court was convened on May 24, as yearly Meeting was in session, with John Henry Barlow as presiding Clerk and read the minute as quoted above. When the Aldermen retired to consider the verdict, John Henry’s clear and commanding voice was heard asking for Friends in court ‘to devote themselves to silent prayer.’

The memorable occasion was written up in the New York Evening Post : “At the Guildhall Court, one of two Police courts of the City of London, at which the presiding judge is always one of the city aldermen, there occurred a few days ago an unprecedented scene. The defendants in the case were prominent Quakers, and the body of the court contained a large number of Quakers. Then the magistrate retired to consider his decision and the Clerk, of the Yearly Meeting, John Henry Barlow, rose and invited Friends who were present to engage in silent prayer. For a time, the court then became a Quaker meeting, during which the silence was occasionally broken by a few words of vocal prayer. As one of the reporters present remarked: ‘It was like a throw back to the 17th century.’ The incident was not only curious in itself, but is likely to be historic. Future historians may record it as a landmark in the relation of the British churches to the State. It is probably the first occasion since the Stuart period on which an organized religious body has deliberately challenged the State’s authority.”

As the war continued, the Censorship became ever stricter and freedom of speech was now almost non-existent. The outspoken document issued by Yearly Meeting Friends in 1916 dealing with the burning matter of Conscription seemed likely to infringe the law. Friends were concerned that such a statement issued by the Society opposing the Defence of the Realm Act and conscription, was widely considered dangerous by some Friends. In particular they questioned whether it was fair to allow John Henry Barlow as Clerk, to sign the document himself on behalf of Friends, thus risking his own imprisonment.

“At which point John Barlow rose and with his characteristic gesture of drawing himself up and throwing back his shoulders, his voice rang out across that crowded hall – “ Surely at such a time, no one is playing for safety; The Society and nor am I, concerned with what is safe, but what is true and right and I propose to sign the document.” He signed and read the whole document out aloud ending with the words, ‘signed John H Barlow, Clerk’.”

At the beginning of the war in 1914, the army was still made up of volunteers. But by spring 1915, despite Kitchener’s recruitment campaign, it had become clear that the results of voluntary enlistment were disappointing and were not going to provide the numbers of men required. So eventually the Government introduced the Military Service Act in 1916. All voluntary enlistment was stopped and all British males between 18 and 41 were now conscripted.

From 1757 Quakers had been exempted from the militia and although the 1916 Act was unique in conscription history by also providing for exemption on conscientious grounds, unfortunately, the wording was left undefined and it was up to those implementing the Act to deal with it on a case by case basis . Many of those who sought exemption were Quakers and fully accepted the historic Quaker rejection of war; some belonged to other Christian denominations accepting the ‘Just War’ tradition, but still stood out against it; some were socialists and believed in a unity of fellow workers ‘across the roar of the guns’; some were humanists or anarchists rejecting the ultimate control of the state over life and limb. But all agreed that participation in war was a matter for individual conscience which overrode all legal and social pressures and many of these came together in the No-Conscription Fellowship, formed in 1914 by John Henry, to oppose conscription and support objectors. John Henry Barlow already aged nearly 60, was too old for call-up, but at the risk of his own prosecution went out of his way to establish this and with Philip Noel-Baker, the fledgling FAU.

With the advent of war the Friends War Victims Relief Committee (set up in 1870 to help people whose lives had been ravaged by the Franco-Prussian War partly with the help of people such as JHB’s mother, the redoubtable Eliza Nicholson) was revived and many Quakers worked under its auspices in Europe. Other Friends, feeling that they “must be doing something” joined the fledgling Friends' Ambulance Unit, which was started in 1914 initially as the Anglo-Belgian Ambulance Unit as mentioned above, by people including Philip Noel-Baker and John Henry. Along with the magnificent help of Sir Arthur Stanley, Chairman of the British Red Cross, it was really able to get started and with his assistance it maintained its links with the Red Cross throughout the war.

Later renamed the Friends' Ambulance Unit, the training took place at the old Quaker centre at Jordans in Buckinghamshire from where they were sent to serve at the Front. Noel-Baker organised and led the FAU, attached to the fighting front in France (1914–1915), and then, as a conscientious objector from 1916, adjutant of the First British Ambulance Unit for Italy (1915–1918), for which he received military medals from the UK, France and Italy. It was dissolved in 1919 only to be resurrected in 1939 at the outbreak of the Second World War, when John Henry’s son Ralph Barlow was a leading light.

There had been little to warn the ordinary people of Britain in 1914 that war was about to break out. Quakers, outside their local meetings, were very involved in domestic matters, particularly with such things as the Adult School Movement in the UK. As there had been no European war for sometime, it was, according to another leading Quaker, Wilfrid Littleboy, “a shock to everybody, Friends included” when war broke out. Littleboy himself, was imprisoned for his ‘absolutist’ pacifist stance, in Wormwood Scrubs and later in Dorchester Prison for the duration of the war. He was a member of Selly Oak Meeting which was also John Henry’s Meeting. When the prospect of Conscription loomed, Wilfrid records that he remembers saying “Oh well, I shall be going to prison” - taking that as a matter of course.

Many other Friends too, also felt that a total refusal to be involved in any work that could be said to be part of the war effort, was necessary to truly testify and demonstrate the conviction of the Society of Friends that all war was un-Christian. John Henry and the No-Conscription Fellowship, shared many of the same convictions learning a lot from other young people, some of whom came to pacifism from different religious backgrounds as well as others from political rather than religious convictions. He was desperately keen to stand up and be counted and Littleboy’s experiences in prison, as recounted in letters to his parents and in an interview for the Imperial War Museum, reflect his buoyant nature and the determination of he and JHB to live by, and witness, the Quaker Peace Testimony.

Eventually, In 1915, John Henry led members of the No-Conscription Fellowship to successfully secure 'the conscience clause' in the 1916 Conscription Act, which enshrined the right to claim exemption from military service. And although there were obviously those who did not agree with his stance, nonetheless, the strength and honesty of his beliefs was respected on all sides and learning amongst other examples of his leadership, of his spearheading a special deputation to the Netherlands in 1915 to try to find common ground amongst neutrals as a basis for Peace negotiations, there were few who were more admired for the sincerity of their views which led after the war to an invitation in 1920, to be the first Quaker, to be asked to speak on the radio.

The All Friends Conference, London, 1920 first of the world conferences of the Society. Held in Devonshire House, London and clerked by John Henry

It was also in 1920 that he was invited by the Society and the Government to head a deputation to Ireland with two other leading Quakers, Roger Clark, of Clarks Shoes and Edith M. Ellis, twin sister of Marian Crips, to report on conditions during the ‘Black and Tan’ regime. His report published in The Times on 5 October 1920 was a “model of judicial restraint and the more damning for it”. The report was also read on December 16, 1920 as part of the evidence presented to the American Commission on Conditions in Ireland. He travelled widely across the country to bear witness to what he had seen, often ‘suffering the widely different views with courtesy and forbearance, so that meetings usually ended with a fairer feeling by the close’ as Mrs Barlow writes in her memoir.

In 1924 he suffered a heart attack and died in August of that year. There were heartfelt appreciations throughout the country on the BBC, in all the major Newspapers and in the larger Quaker diaspora. The general feeling was perhaps best summed up in the leader in The American Friend entitled “The Passing of a Statesman”. ‘It was not alone the timbre of his voice’ they wrote, ‘that keeps it so fresh in the memory … it was also the character behind the voice and the force of the message it conveyed …. In a life tireless of industry and distinguished service, John Henry Barlow was a living expression of Quakerism at its highest and best - he was both a preacher and a doer of the word; and eloquent as was his preaching, it was not more so than the steadfast devotion and the fine capacity with which he served his fellow men”.

John Henry and Mabel Barlow had four children, John Cash Barlow (1901-1973), Mary Millior (1904-1993), Phyllis Deborah (1907-1909), Frederick Ralph (1910-1980). John worked for Cadburys and married Enid Priestman in 1926 and they had one child Roger (b.1930); Phyllis died young; Ralph Barlow followed his father and became head of The Bournville Village Trust and married Joan Barber, having five children, David John (b.1937), Antony Ralph (b.1941), Stephen Hugh (b.1945), Rosemary Joan (b.1947) and Nicholas Philip (b.1958).