John Barker (9 March 1771 – 5 October 1849) was an English diplomat and
horticulturist
Horticulture is the branch of agriculture that deals with the art, science, technology, and business of plant cultivation. It includes the cultivation of fruits, vegetables, nuts, seeds, herbs, sprouts, mushrooms, algae, flowers, seaweeds and no ...
.
Diplomatic career
Born in
Smyrna
Smyrna ( ; grc, Σμύρνη, Smýrnē, or , ) was a Greek city located at a strategic point on the Aegean coast of Anatolia. Due to its advantageous port conditions, its ease of defence, and its good inland connections, Smyrna rose to promi ...
(present-day
İzmir
İzmir ( , ; ), also spelled Izmir, is a metropolitan city in the western extremity of Anatolia, capital of the province of the same name. It is the third most populous city in Turkey, after Istanbul and Ankara and the second largest urban aggl ...
) on 9 March 1771, Barker was educated in England. In 1797, he went to
Constantinople
la, Constantinopolis ota, قسطنطينيه
, alternate_name = Byzantion (earlier Greek name), Nova Roma ("New Rome"), Miklagard/Miklagarth (Old Norse), Tsargrad ( Slavic), Qustantiniya ( Arabic), Basileuousa ("Queen of Cities"), Megalopolis ( ...
where he became private secretary to
Sir John Spencer Smith, the
British ambassador to the Ottoman Empire.
Barker was Consul of the
Levant Company in
Aleppo maybe as early as 1799, but certainly from 1803. He seems to have remained in post until 1825, not least because there is no evidence of a replacement. He had an annual salary of £1,200, the equivalent of £ in present-day terms. He had to flee from Aleppo in 1807 due to the rupture between the
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the European mainland, continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotlan ...
and the
Ottoman Empire
The Ottoman Empire, * ; is an archaic version. The definite article forms and were synonymous * and el, Оθωμανική Αυτοκρατορία, Othōmanikē Avtokratoria, label=none * info page on book at Martin Luther University) ...
. He remained in hiding and rendered important services to the
East India Company
The East India Company (EIC) was an English, and later British, joint-stock company founded in 1600 and dissolved in 1874. It was formed to trade in the Indian Ocean region, initially with the East Indies (the Indian subcontinent and South ...
. He returned to Aleppo after the signing of the 1809 peace treaty between the two countries. Barker stayed in Aleppo until 1825.
Upon his departure, the Aleppo consulship remained vacant for nearly a decade, until
Nathaniel William Werry was appointed to the post in 1835.
On 28 June 1826, Barker was appointed British consul in
Alexandria
Alexandria ( or ; ar, ٱلْإِسْكَنْدَرِيَّةُ ; grc-gre, Αλεξάνδρεια, Alexándria) is the second largest city in Egypt, and the largest city on the Mediterranean coast. Founded in by Alexander the Great, Alexandri ...
, Egypt. Following the death of
Henry Salt in 1827, Barker acted as consul-general in Egypt.
He was formally appointed to the position on 30 June 1829. Barker proved himself unreliable during the first stages of the crisis between Western powers and
Muhammad Ali Pasha
Muhammad Ali Pasha al-Mas'ud ibn Agha, also known as Muhammad Ali of Egypt and the Sudan ( sq, Mehmet Ali Pasha, ar, محمد علي باشا, ; ota, محمد علی پاشا المسعود بن آغا; ; 4 March 1769 – 2 August 1849), was ...
, the viceroy of Egypt who was pursuing an expansionist policy at that time. As a result, British Foreign Secretary
Lord Palmerston
Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, (20 October 1784 – 18 October 1865) was a British statesman who was twice Prime Minister of the United Kingdom in the mid-19th century. Palmerston dominated British foreign policy during the period ...
replaced him as consul with a commissioned officer, Colonel
Patrick Campbell. Barker retired in 1833. In the same year, his collection of antiquities was sold anonymously by
Sotheby's
Sotheby's () is a British-founded American multinational corporation with headquarters in New York City. It is one of the world's largest brokers of fine and decorative art, jewellery, and collectibles. It has 80 locations in 40 countries, an ...
. Barker had been a fervent collector of antiquities, and his collection comprised 258 lots. The
British Museum
The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...
and
John Lee John Lee may refer to:
Academia
* John Lee (astronomer) (1783–1866), president of the Royal Astronomical Society
* John Lee (university principal) (1779–1859), University of Edinburgh principal
* John Lee (pathologist) (born 1961), English ...
were the principal buyers.
Interest in horticulture
Barker spent his retirement years in
Suedia (ancient Seleucia Pieria), on the banks of the
Orontes River, near the city of
Antioch
Antioch on the Orontes (; grc-gre, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου, ''Antiókheia hē epì Oróntou'', Learned ; also Syrian Antioch) grc-koi, Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπὶ Ὀρόντου; or Ἀντιόχεια ἡ ἐπ ...
. He built a spacious house for himself in Suedia, and planted
fruit tree
A fruit tree is a tree which bears fruit that is consumed or used by animals and humans — all trees that are flowering plants produce fruit, which are the ripened ovaries of flowers containing one or more seeds. In horticultural usage, t ...
s. The native inhabitants, both Muslim and Christian, loved and respected him and his family. Barker was especially interested in the
peach
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-f ...
, the
nectarine
The peach (''Prunus persica'') is a deciduous tree first domesticated and cultivated in Zhejiang province of Eastern China. It bears edible juicy fruits with various characteristics, most called peaches and others (the glossy-skinned, non-f ...
and the
apricot. For many years, he sent agents as far away as
Bukhara,
Samarkand and
Kandahar
Kandahar (; Kandahār, , Qandahār) is a city in Afghanistan, located in the south of the country on the Arghandab River, at an elevation of . It is Afghanistan's second largest city after Kabul, with a population of about 614,118. It is the c ...
to get him
scions of the best fruit-producing trees.
Thanks to his
botanical garden
A botanical garden or botanic gardenThe terms ''botanic'' and ''botanical'' and ''garden'' or ''gardens'' are used more-or-less interchangeably, although the word ''botanic'' is generally reserved for the earlier, more traditional gardens, an ...
, he introduced many oriental plants and trees to England and Western plants and trees to
Syria.
The famous "
Stanwick nectarine" was introduced by Barker to the United Kingdom through the assistance of the
Duke of Northumberland
Duke of Northumberland is a noble title that has been created three times in English and British history, twice in the Peerage of England and once in the Peerage of Great Britain. The current holder of this title is Ralph Percy, 12th Duke o ...
.
Barker helped improve the culture of cotton and silk in Syria. He also introduced
vaccination
Vaccination is the administration of a vaccine to help the immune system develop immunity from a disease. Vaccines contain a microorganism or virus in a weakened, live or killed state, or proteins or toxins from the organism. In stimulating ...
to the Middle East.
When an outbreak of
cholera occurred in the north of Syria in 1848, a remedy was discovered by which many persons were cured even in the advanced stages of the disease. Barker verified the efficiency of the remedy by personal observation, and once he was satisfied with the result, he went to great lengths to spread the knowledge of what he deemed an important discovery to the whole world. Despite the fact that he was officially retired, Barker did not totally disengage himself from active politics and public life. During the 1835
Euphrates
The Euphrates () is the longest and one of the most historically important rivers of Western Asia. Together with the Tigris, it is one of the two defining rivers of Mesopotamia ( ''the land between the rivers''). Originating in Turkey, the Eup ...
expedition, for instance, he forwarded the objects of the expedition and received with considerable hospitality
Colonel Chesney and his men.
Family
Barker's family came from the small market town of
Bakewell in Derbyshire, England.
His father was William Barker, merchant, a Member of the Levant Company, based in Smyrna. On 15 June 1800, Barker married Marianne Hays, the only surviving child of
David Hays, a former consul in Aleppo. Marianne's stepfather
Robert Abbott—her mother's second husband—had succeeded her father as consul in Aleppo. Following his death in 1797, Marianne's mother had carried on the consular business during two years, until Barker arrived as consul in 1799.
Barker and his wife Marianne had three sons and two daughters, all of whom possessed a
great facility for acquiring languages, and became proficient
Orientalists
In art history, literature and cultural studies, Orientalism is the imitation or depiction of aspects in the Eastern world. These depictions are usually done by writers, designers, and artists from the Western world. In particular, Orientalist p ...
. The most famous of Barker's five children was his son
William Burckhardt (c. 1810 – 1856), who was born in Aleppo during his father's consulship.
References
;General
*
;Specific
, -
{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, John
1771 births
1849 deaths
British consuls-general in Egypt
English art collectors
English expatriates
English horticulturists
British expatriates in Syria
History of Aleppo
Levant Company
People from İzmir