Colonial Despatches

Born in 1806, the eldest son of a baronet, George Barrow was educated at Charterhouse School.1 He obtained a position of clerk in the Colonial Office in 1825 through his father's influence.2 Ponderous and unimaginative as a civil servant, Barrow showed little interest in suggesting resolutions to the problems in the documents that crossed his desk.3 He was eventually promoted to senior clerk of the Mediterranean Department.4 He succeeded to the baronetcy in 1848, became chief clerk in 1870, and retired in 1872.5

• 1. Ann Margaret Ridler, BARROW, Sir George, second baronet (1806–1876), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• 2. John S. Galbraith, Reluctant Empire: British Policy on the South African Frontier, 1834—1854, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1963), 16.
• 3. John S. Galbraith, Reluctant Empire: British Policy on the South African Frontier, 1834—1854, (Berkeley, CA: University of California Press, 1963), 16.
• 4. Ann Margaret Ridler, BARROW, Sir George, second baronet (1806–1876), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.
• 5. Ann Margaret Ridler, BARROW, Sir George, second baronet (1806–1876), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography.