Sir Hugh Shakespear Barnes (14 July 1853 – 15 February 1940) was an English administrator in

British India The provinces of India, earlier presidencies of British India and still earlier, presidency towns, were the administrative divisions of British governance in South Asia. Collectively, they have been called British India. In one form or another ...

. He served as Chief Commissioner of

Baluchistan Balochistan ( ; , ), also spelled as Baluchistan or Baluchestan, is a historical region in West and South Asia, located in the Iranian plateau's far southeast and bordering the Indian Plate and the Arabian Sea coastline. This arid region of de ...

several times during the 19th century, and was Lieutenant-Governor of Burma from 1903 to 1905.

Early life and education

Barnes was born in

Shahjahanpur Shahjahanpur () is a municipal corporation, town and district headquarters of Shahjahanpur District in Western Uttar Pradesh, India. It is located between Bareilly and Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh. History Shahjahanpur was establi ...

Uttar Pradesh Uttar Pradesh ( ; UP) is a States and union territories of India, state in North India, northern India. With over 241 million inhabitants, it is the List of states and union territories of India by population, most populated state in In ...

, to James Ralph Barnes, a member of the British

Indian Civil Service The Indian Civil Service (ICS), officially known as the Imperial Civil Service, was the higher civil service of the British Empire in India during British Raj, British rule in the period between 1858 and 1947. Its members ruled over more than 3 ...

, and Mary Jane Thompson. His maternal great-grandfather, George Nesbitt Thompson, (1753–1831), was private secretary to

Warren Hastings Warren Hastings (6 December 1732 – 22 August 1818) was a British colonial administrator, who served as the first governor of the Presidency of Fort William (Bengal), the head of the Supreme Council of Bengal, and so the first governor-gener ...

. His mother's brother was Sir Rivers Thompson, Lieutenant-Governor of Bengal, while his father's brother

George Carnac Barnes George Carnac Barnes, CB (1818 – 13 May 1861) was a British administrator in India. The son of the Venerable George Barnes, Archdeacon of Barnstaple and Archdeacon of Bombay, he was educated at Westminster School before proceeding to India. A ...

, Commissioner of the

Cis-Sutlej states The Cis-Sutlej states were a group of states in the contemporary Punjab and Haryana states of northern India during the 19th century, lying between the Sutlej River on the north, the Himalayas on the east, the Yamuna River and Delhi District on ...

. He was educated at

Malvern College Malvern College is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, fee-charging coeducational boarding school, boarding and day school in Malvern, Worcestershire, Malvern, Worcestershire, England. It is a public school (United Kingdom), public school ...

. His brother, Herbert Curie Barnes, served as Private Secretary to the Chief Commissioner of Burma.

Career

Hugh Barnes joined the Indian Civil Service in 1874, after placing atop the entrance examination. He was appointed Chief Commissioner of

in 1891 (twice), and served further terms in 1896–1899 and 1899–1900. In 1899, he was appointed Foreign Secretary to the Government of India. After the accession of King

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

, Barnes was appointed chair of a central executive committee set up to arrange a

Durbar Durbar may refer to: * Conference of Rulers, a council of Malay monarchs * Durbar festival, a yearly festival in several towns of Nigeria * Durbar floor plate, a hot-rolled structural steel that has been designed to give excellent slip resistance o ...

to commemorate the new reign. It was in this capacity he attended the January 1903

Delhi Durbar The Delhi Durbar ( lit. "Court of Delhi") was an Indian imperial-style mass assembly organized by Britain at Coronation Park, Delhi, India, to mark the succession of an Emperor or Empress of India. Also known as the Imperial Durbar, it was he ...

, and it fell to him to initiate the main ceremony by officially asking the Viceroy to declare the Durbar open. It was announced in August 1902 that Barnes was to be appointed Lieutenant-Governor of Burma in succession to Sir Frederick Fryer, whose term ended in early 1903. Barnes served in

Burma Myanmar, officially the Republic of the Union of Myanmar; and also referred to as Burma (the official English name until 1989), is a country in northwest Southeast Asia. It is the largest country by area in Mainland Southeast Asia and ha ...

from April 1903 until May 1905, in which year he became a Member of the

Council of India The Council of India (1858 – 1935) was an advisory body to the Secretary of State for India, established in 1858 by the Government of India Act 1858. It was based in London and initially consisted of 15 members. The Council of India was dissolve ...

. He was appointed a Knight Commander of the

Order of the Star of India The Most Exalted Order of the Star of India is an order of chivalry founded by Queen Victoria in 1861. The Order includes members of three classes: # Knight Grand Commander ( GCSI) # Knight Commander ( KCSI) # Companion ( CSI) No appointments ...

(KCSI) in the

1903 Durbar Honours The 1903 New Year Honours, announced at the time as the Durbar Honours, were appointments to various orders and honours of the United Kingdom and British India. The list was announced on the day of the 1903 Delhi Durbar held to celebrate the suc ...

Personal life

Barnes married Winifred Strachey, daughter of John Strachey, another Indian civil servant and a member of the prominent

Strachey The Strachey family originated in Saffron Walden, Essex, England. By the mid-1600s, they were based at Sutton Court in Stowey, Somerset, England. Strachey family * William Strachey the English writer ** William Strachey (c. 1596/97–1635) ** ...

family. So many members of the Strachey family served in India that they were known jokingly as the "Strachey government." Barnes' daughter, Mary Barnes Hutchinson, was to become a writer and member of the

Bloomsbury Group The Bloomsbury Group was a group of associated British writers, intellectuals, philosophers and artists in the early 20th century. Among the people involved in the group were Virginia Woolf, John Maynard Keynes, E. M. Forster, Vanessa Bell, a ...

References

1853 births 1940 deaths People from Shahjahanpur People educated at Malvern College Chief Commissioners of Baluchistan Administrators in British Burma Knights Commander of the Order of the Star of India Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order Indian Civil Service (British India) officers {{UK-gov-bio-stub