John Henry Barrett (21 July 1913 – 9 February 1999) was a pioneering conservationist, author and broadcaster, who was the first Warden at Dale Fort Field Centre in

Pembrokeshire Pembrokeshire ( ; cy, Sir Benfro ) is a Local government in Wales#Principal areas, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. It is bordered by Carmarthenshire to the east, Ceredigion to the northeast, and the rest by sea. The count ...

Early life and education

Barrett was born in

King's Lynn King's Lynn, known until 1537 as Bishop's Lynn and colloquially as Lynn, is a port and market town in the borough of King's Lynn and West Norfolk in the county of Norfolk, England. It is located north of London, north-east of Peterborough, no ...

, Norfolk. He read Economics and Geography at

Cambridge University , mottoeng = Literal: From here, light and sacred draughts. Non literal: From this place, we gain enlightenment and precious knowledge. , established = , other_name = The Chancellor, Masters and Schola ...

Second World War

In the 1930s, Barrett joined the

RAF The Royal Air Force (RAF) is the United Kingdom's air and space force. It was formed towards the end of the First World War on 1 April 1918, becoming the first independent air force in the world, by regrouping the Royal Flying Corps (RFC) and ...

and served with

Bomber Command Bomber Command is an organisational military unit, generally subordinate to the air force of a country. The best known were in Britain and the United States. A Bomber Command is generally used for strategic bombing (although at times, e.g. during t ...

, reaching the rank of

Wing Commander Wing commander (Wg Cdr in the RAF, the IAF, and the PAF, WGCDR in the RNZAF and RAAF, formerly sometimes W/C in all services) is a senior commissioned rank in the British Royal Air Force and air forces of many countries which have historical ...

. During the early part of

World War II World War II or the Second World War, often abbreviated as WWII or WW2, was a world war that lasted from 1939 to 1945. It involved the vast majority of the world's countries—including all of the great powers—forming two opposin ...

he was shot down and became a prisoner-of-war. The next years were spent in a succession of prisoner-of-war camps across Germany and Poland:

Oflag VI-B Oflag VI-B was a World War II German prisoner-of-war camp for officers (''Offizerlager''), southwest of the village of Dössel (now part of Warburg) in Germany. Camp history In 1939, before it was a POW camp, the area was originally planned to b ...

(

Dössel Dössel is a village and constituent community ''(stadtteil)'' of the town of Warburg, in the district of Höxter in the east of the federal state of North Rhine-Westphalia, Germany. Dössel has historically been known by the names of Dosele and ...

, near

Warburg Warburg (; Westphalian language, Westphalian: ''Warberich'' or ''Warborg'') is a town in eastern North Rhine-Westphalia, central Germany on the river Diemel near the three-state point shared by Hessen, Lower Saxony and North Rhine-Westphalia. It ...

Oflag XXI-B Oflag XXI-B and Stalag XXI-B were World War II German prisoner-of-war camps for officers and enlisted men, located at Szubin a few miles southwest of Bydgoszcz, Poland, which at that time was occupied by Nazi Germany. Timeline * September 193 ...

(

Schubin Szubin (german: Schubin) is a town in Nakło County, Kuyavian-Pomeranian Voivodeship, Poland, located southwest of Bydgoszcz. It has a population of around 9,300. It is located in the ethnocultural region of Pałuki. History The first record o ...

Stalag Luft III , partof = ''Luftwaffe'' , location = Sagan, Lower Silesia, Nazi Germany (now Żagań, Poland) , image = , caption = Model of the set used to film the movie ''The Great Escape.'' It depicts a smaller version of a single compound in ''Stalag ...

( Sagan) (where he was part of the support team for the " wooden horse" escape) and

Stalag III-A Stalag III-A was a German World War II prisoner-of-war camp at Luckenwalde, Brandenburg, south of Berlin. Camp history Planning for the camp commenced before the invasion of Poland. It was designed to hold 10,000 men, was the largest in the 3rd ...

(

Luckenwalde Luckenwalde (; Upper and dsb, Łukowc) is the capital of the Teltow-Fläming district in the German state of Brandenburg. It is situated on the Nuthe river north of the Fläming Heath, at the eastern rim of the Nuthe-Nieplitz Nature Park, abou ...

). It was in Oflag VI-B that he met John Buxton,

Peter Conder Peter Conder, OBE (20 March 1919 – 8 October 1993) was a British ornithologist and conservationist known predominantly for his contribution as Director of the Royal Society for the Protection of Birds. Early life Peter Conder was born in S ...

and

George Waterston George Waterston OBE FRSE FZS LLD (10 April 1911 – 30 September 1980) was a 20th-century Scottish stationer , ornithologist and conservationist. From 1949 to 1954 he owned the remote Scottish island, Fair Isle. He founded the Inverleith Fi ...

. In their company he developed his lifelong interest in birds, which he later turned to good use in Wales. These four recorded migration patterns and the minutiae of tree sparrow and chaffinch nesting behaviour.

Post-war

Barrett subsequently lived in

for 50 years. In 1947 he became the first Warden of Dale Fort Field Centre, established as a centre for the study of marine biology, but which also included the Skokholm Bird Observatory on the island of

Skokholm Skokholm () or Skokholm Island is an island off the coast of Pembrokeshire, Wales, south of the neighbouring island of Skomer. The surrounding waters are a marine reserve and all are part of the Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Both islands a ...

. He was appointed Minister's Nominee to the fledgling

Pembrokeshire Coast National Park Pembrokeshire Coast National Park ( cy, Parc Cenedlaethol Arfordir Penfro) is a national park along the Pembrokeshire coast in west Wales. It was established as a National Park in 1952. It is one of three national parks in Wales, the others bei ...

, initiated a series of guided walks, fought for the establishment of a coastal path (he wrote the

HMSO The Office of Public Sector Information (OPSI) is the body responsible for the operation of His Majesty's Stationery Office (HMSO) and of other public information services of the United Kingdom. The OPSI is part of the National Archives of the Un ...

guide to the path), and served on the Park Committee for twenty-five years. He established the Pembrokeshire Countryside Unit in

Broad Haven Broad Haven ( cy, Aberllydan) is a village and seaside resort in the south east corner of St Bride's Bay at the western terminus of the B4341 road in south Pembrokeshire, Wales. Broad Haven and Little Haven together form the Havens community a ...

in 1968.''Western Telegraph''. Obituary. 17 February 1999. When leading walks along the coastal footpath he was accompanied by a dog called "dog".

Books

* Barrett, J. H. & Yonge, C. M. (1958). ''Collins Pocket Guide to the Seashore''. Collins London * Barrett, J. H. & Nimmo, M. ''Flowers of the Coast Path'' (Pembrokeshire Coast National Park subject guide) * Barrett, J. H. ''Seashore'' (1960) Collins. * Barrett, J. H. ''Life on the Seashore'' (Countryside) (1974). Collins * Barrett, J. H. ''Dale Peninsula'' (Pembrokeshire Coast National Park area guide) (1986) * Barrett, J. H. ''A Plain Man's Guide to the Path round the Dale Peninsula'' (1966) * Barrett, J. H. ''The Pembrokeshire Coast Path'' (1979)

References

Sources

* * ''Wildlife''. Issue no. 79, Spring 1999, Obituary

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, John 1913 births 1999 deaths 20th-century British zoologists 20th-century English male writers English ornithologists Military personnel from Norfolk British World War II prisoners of war English non-fiction writers Royal Air Force wing commanders Royal Air Force personnel of World War II English male non-fiction writers Members of the Order of the British Empire Shot-down aviators World War II prisoners of war held by Germany