Isaac Barré

The Right Honourable Isaac Barré
Colonel Barré, c. 1765, by Douglas Hamilton
Member of the British Parliament for Calne (UK Parliament constituency)
In office 1774 – 1790
Member of Parliament for Chipping Wycombe (UK Parliament constituency)
In office 1761 – 1774 Serving with Robert Waller
Preceded by	Viscount FitzMaurice Robert Waller
Succeeded by	Thomas Fitzmaurice Robert Waller
Paymaster of the Forces
In office 1782–1783
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	The Earl of Shelburne
Preceded by	Edmund Burke
Succeeded by	Edmund Burke
Treasurer of the Navy
In office 1782
Monarch	George III
Prime Minister	Lord Rockingham
Preceded by	Welbore Ellis
Succeeded by	Henry Dundas
Personal details
Born	1726 (1726) Dublin, Ireland
Died	20 July 1802 (1802-07-21) Mayfair, London, England
Resting place	St. Mary Churchyard, East Raynham, England
Nationality	Irish
Political party	Whig
Alma mater	Trinity College, Dublin

Isaac Barré (1726 – 20 July 1802) was an Irish soldier and politician.^[1] He earned distinction serving with the British Army during the Seven Years' War and later became a prominent Member of Parliament, in which role he became a vocal supporter of William Pitt. He is known for coining the term "Sons of Liberty" in reference to American Whigs opposed to the British government's policies.

Early life

He was the son of Peter Barré, a Huguenot refugee who became a linen dealer and had served as High Sheriff of Dublin City.^[2] He was educated at Trinity College, and graduated in 1745. While his parents had hoped he would study law, and although he had potential as an actor, Barré instead entered the British Army in 1746.

Military career

After studying at Trinity College, he joined the 32nd regiment of foot as an ensign in 1746, and was promoted to lieutenant in 1755, and captain in 1756. He served under his patron General James Wolfe on the Rochefort expedition of 1757, when he first met Lord Shelburne, and afterwards in Canada where he was appointed adjutant-general, fighting at both Louisbourg (1758) and Quebec (1759). In the Quebec expedition, in which Wolfe was killed, Barré was severely wounded by a bullet in the cheek and lost the use of his right eye, and was among the group gathered around the dying Wolfe, immortalised in Benjamin West's celebrated picture.

Returning to England in September 1760, despite many years of commendable service, Barré was denied a promotion by William Pitt the Elder^[3] and turned to Shelburne for help. After undertaking a tour of Shelburne's Irish estates, he was advanced to lieutenant-colonel of the regiment of 106th Foot at Shelburne's instigation, and in 1763 was appointed to the lucrative posts of adjutant-general to the British army and Governor of Stirling Castle.

Political career

Colonel Isaac Barré, 1785, by Gilbert Stuart

Shelburne introduced him to Lord Bute and brought him into parliament for his borough of Chipping Wycombe (1761–1774), having been selected by Shelburne "as a bravo to run down Mr. Pitt", and then for Calne (1774–1790). One of the few self-made soldiers in parliament, Barré became one of Shelburne's principal supporters in the House of Commons. In his first political speech, he vehemently attacked the absent war minister William Pitt, renewing this assault the next day to Pitt's face. This caused a sensation, and set the tone of a long and colourful parliamentary career in which he acquired a fearsome reputation as an orator. However, he ultimately became a devoted Pitt adherent.

A vigorous opponent of the taxation of America, Barré displayed his mastery of invective in his championship of the American cause, and the name "Sons of Liberty", which he had applied to the colonists in one of his speeches, became a common designation of American organisations directed against the Stamp Act, as well as later patriotic clubs. From 1766 to 1768, Barré was a Vice Treasurer of Ireland. His 1782 appointment as Treasurer of the Navy, which carried a pension of £3,200 a year at a time when the government was ostensibly advocating stringency, caused great discontent. William Pitt the Younger replied that the pension was compensation for Barré's dismissal from his military offices in 1763; he then appointed Barré to the even more lucrative position of Paymaster General of the forces, with responsibility for England's entire army payroll, which he held from August 1782 to April 1783. In 1784, Barré relinquished his pension in exchange for appointment to the sinecure of Clerk of the Pells. Nominally responsible for maintaining records of all Exchequer income and payments, the Clerk of the Pells was paid on a percentage system, which enabled Barré to accumulate a sizable fortune.^[4]

Barré's knowledge of North America (he was one of the few politicians with friendships among the American mercantile classes) made him a champion of the colonists, whom he famously dubbed "Sons of Liberty" while opposing the intended Stamp Act, which nevertheless passed on 6 February 1765. An example of his fiery oratory was his response to Charles Townshend's observation when introducing the Stamp Act resolutions that the colonies should "contribute to the mother country which had planted, nurtured and indulged them", to which he replied:

They planted by your care! No, your oppressions planted them in America. They fled from your tyranny to a then uncultivated, inhospitable country, where they exposed themselves to almost all the hardships to which human nature is liable, and among others to the cruelties of a savage foe and actuated by principles of true English liberties, they met all hardships with pleasure compared with those they suffered in their own country from the hands of those who should be their friends.

In the Stamp Act crisis, Barré not only championed repeal but also followed Pitt in opposing the complete right of taxation as stated in the Declaratory Act. His efforts against the Stamp Act were commemorated in America with the founding in 1769 of the Pennsylvania town of Wilkes-Barre, named for John Wilkes and Isaac Barré. The towns of Barre, Massachusetts and Barre, Vermont were also named in his honour.^[1]

Horace Walpole described Barré as "a black [meaning his hair was black], robust man, of a military figure, rather hard-favoured than not, young, with a peculiar distortion on one side of his face, which it seems was a bullet lodged loosely in his cheek, and which gave a savage glare to one eye".^[5]

Death and burial

Barré died at his home on Stanhope Street in the Mayfair district of London on 20 July 1802.^[6] He was buried at St. Mary Churchyard in East Raynham.^[7]

Barré's residuary legatee was Anne Townshend, Marchioness Townshend, whom he had known before her marriage to George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend.^[8] She received approximately £24,000 (equivalent to about £2.3 million in 2018, or $3.2 million).^[9]

Legacy

The town of Barre, Massachusetts is named for him, as is the city of Wilkes-Barre, Pennsylvania.^[10] There are also a town and a city named for Barré in Vermont (Barre City and Barre Town),^[11] as well as the towns of Barre, New York and Barre, Wisconsin. In addition, there is a memorial to Barré in New York City,^[12] and numerous eastern US cities have named streets for him.

References

External links

Wikisource has the text of the 1911 Encyclopædia Britannica article Barré, Isaac.

• Webb, Alfred (1878). " Barré, Isaac". A Compendium of Irish Biography. Dublin: M. H. Gill & son. Wikisource 
• National Portrait Gallery (UK): Isaac Barré