John Barlow, MP

Family and Education b. c.1682, 2nd s. of Sir John Barlow, 1st Bt., of Slebech and Minwere, Pemb. by his 2nd w., and bro. of Sir George Barlow, 2nd Bt.* m. (1) 1 May 1708 (with £5,000), Anne (d. 1733), da. of (Sir) Simon Harcourt I* of Stanton Harcourt, Oxon., 6s. (5 d.v.p.) 1da.; (2) c.1734, Anne, da. of Richard Skrine of Warleigh Manor, Som., 1da.1

Offices Held

?Pursebearer to ld. keeper 1710–aft. 1716 (to ld. chancellor from 1713).

Biography Barlow presumably purchased the Colby estate well before his marriage, since he was included in the Pembrokeshire lieutenancy as early as 1701. ‘As violent’ a Tory as his elder brother, according to a local Whig, he appears to have deviated from the family’s traditional recusancy so far as to become a staunch Churchman: he was actively involved in the charity school movement in Wales, and took a close interest in ecclesiastical patronage, writing urgently to Bishop Ottley in 1715 to attempt to forestall the nomination of a ‘Whig’ parson to a vacant living. His victory in the 1710 county election was greatly assisted by ‘the diligence of the clergy’, 50 of whom polled for him as against a mere seven for his opponent.2

Barlow may have been appointed his father-in-law’s pursebearer as lord keeper in October 1710 though, according to Chamberlayne, this ‘Mr Barlow’ still held the office under the Whig lord chancellor, William Cowper*, in 1716. Certainly it would appear that his marital connexions kept Barlow close to the Court during the ensuing Parliament. Despite being given leave of absence on 3 Mar. 1711, for health reasons, he was listed among the ‘worthy patriots’ who in the first session exposed the mismanagements of the old ministry, but he did not join the October Club. On 14 May 1713 he told against the place bill at its second reading. Little is known of his conduct in the 1714 Parliament, to which he was returned unopposed, other than that he was marked as a Tory in the Worsley list.3

Reports that local Whigs wanted Barlow to be chosen sheriff of Pembrokeshire in order to prevent his standing for Pembrokeshire in 1715 proved ill-founded, but he was defeated at this election and did not stand for Parliament again. Unlike Sir George he was not regarded by the Jacobites in 1721 as reliable: although he had been ‘very forward and fit to be tried’, he had ‘become cautious, since he married Lord Harcourt’s daughter’. He did, however, become a member of the Society of Sea Serjeants in 1726 during his uncle William Barlow’s† presidency of the club. Barlow died on 29 Oct. 1739, aged 57. The Colby estate, together with property acquired from his deceased younger brother, went to the daughter of his second marriage. The sole surviving son of his former marriage, George, inherited the family home at Slebech, perhaps purchased by Barlow from his elder brother, and sat as MP for Haverfordwest 1743–7.4

Ref Volumes: 1690-1715 Author: D. W. Hayton Notes 1. M. Barlow, Barlow Fam. Recs. 45; G. D. Barlow, Barlow Fam. Recs. 195; Add. 24120, f. 36; W. Wales Hist. Recs. iii. 149–51; IGI, London. 2. W. Wales Hist. Recs. 150; CSP Dom. 1700–2, p. 254; L. K. J. Glassey, Appt. JPs, 249–50; SPCK Corresp. ed. Clement (Univ. of Wales Bd. of Celtic Stud. Hist. and Law, ser. x), 329; Pemb. Life 1572–1843 ed. B. E. and K. A. Howells (Pemb. Recs. Soc. 1972), 60; G. Holmes and W. A. Speck, Divided Soc. 71. 3. Luttrell, Brief Relation, vi. 644; HMC Portland, iv. 569. 4. Hereford and Worcester RO (Worcester St. Helen’s), Hampton mss 705:349/BA5117/3/xi/21, John Stephens to Lady Pakington, 29 Oct. 1714; Pemb. Life 1572–1843, 58–59; P. S. Fritz, Ministers and Jacobitism 1715–45, p. 153; Trans. Cymmro. Soc. (1947), 221; (1967), 75; Welsh Hist. Rev. i. 290; W. Wales Hist. Recs. 150–1.