James Barrett (academic)

{{short description|Australian ophthalmologist and academic administrator}}

{{other people|James Barrett}}

{{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}}

{{Infobox person

|name= Sir James Barrett

|image= James Barrett circa 1914.jpg

|caption= James Barrett {{circa|1914}}

|birth_date= {{Birth date|1862|2|27|df=yes}}

|birth_place= South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia

|death_date= {{Death date and age|1945|4|6|1862|2|27|df=yes}}

}}

Sir James William Barrett, {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|KBE|CB|CMG}} (27 February 1862 – 6 April 1945) was an Australian ophthalmologist and academic administrator.

Born in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,{{cite web | url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barrett-sir-james-william-64 | title=Biography – Sir James William Barrett – Australian Dictionary of Biography | publisher=Australian Dictionary of Biography | accessdate=9 November 2015}} he was educated at the University of Melbourne and King's College London.‘BARRETT, Lt-Col Sir James William’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007

During World War I he organised a successful open-air hospital in the grounds of Luna Park, Cairo, for military casualties from the Gallipoli landings. [https://archive.org/details/australianarmyme00barruoft The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt; an illustrated and detailed account of the early organisation and work of the Australian medical units in Egypt in 1914-1915] by Barrett, James William; Deane, P. E. London: H.K. Lewis (1918).

He served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 1931 to 1934, and then as Chancellor from 1935 to 1939.{{cite book|url=http://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barrett-sir-james-william-64|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|first=S.|last=Murray-Smith|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|accessdate=29 November 2017|via=Australian Dictionary of Biography}} He was President of the British Medical Association from 1935 to 1936,{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/archives/collections/chancellors/barrett.html|title=Home|date=31 October 2017|website=University of Melbourne Archives|accessdate=29 November 2017}} and the inaugural president of the Victorian Town Planning and Parks Association, now the Town and Country Planning Association.{{cite web|title=About the TCPA|url=http://www.tcpa.org.au/|publisher=Town and Country Planning Association|accessdate=2014-10-06}} He was a notable supporter of Jewish refugee migration to Australia by persons fleeing Nazism.Rubinstein, Hilary L., 'Sir James Barrett (1862–1945): Australian philosemite', Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal, 12:1, Nov 1993, pp.91–100.