Sir Robert Barker, 1st Baronet

Barker was the eldest son of Robert Barker M.D., of Hammersmith, and his wife Hannah Whitehead.{{cite web|url=http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1754-1790/member/barker-sir-robert-1732-89|title=Barker, Sir Robert (?1732–89), of Busbridge, Surr., History of Parliament Online|accessdate=8 August 2018}} He went to India in 1749 and in 1757, during the Seven Years' War, commanded the artillery at the Capture of Chandannagar and at the Battle of Plassey.[http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1410?docPos=3 Sir Robert Barker at Oxford Dictionary of National Biography] In 1762 he went on an expedition to Manila in the Philippines. He was knighted on 16 January 1764.Stephens 1885, p. 208.

Two years later he returned to India to protect the Nawab wazir of Oudh Shuja-ud-Daula. In 1769 he became Commander-in-Chief, India[https://books.google.com/books?id=P_cNAAAAQAAJ&dq=%22General+Charles+Morgan%22&pg=RA1-PR20 The Bengal almanac, for 1827, compiled by S. Smith and Co., Page XX] he became likewise provincial commander-in-chief in Bengal to the great disgust of Sir Richard Fletcher.{{sfn|Stephens|1885|p=209}}

However he exceeded his authority by committing the East India Company to guaranteeing a treaty and by confronting a possible Maratha Empire invasion. He resigned in 1773: Colonel Champion, who succeeded him, had to conduct the first Rohilla war.{{sfn|Stephens|1885|p=209}}

Barker returned to England becoming member of parliament for Wallingford in 1774. He was elected a Fellow of the Royal Society in 1775.{{cite web|url = https://collections.royalsociety.org/DServe.exe?dsqIni=Dserve.ini&dsqApp=Archive&dsqCmd=Show.tcl&dsqDb=Persons&dsqPos=5&dsqSearch=((text)%3D'barker')| title= Royal Society Fellows Details|publisher= The Royal Society|accessdate = 6 May 2014}} In 1781 he was created a baronet, of Bushbridge in the County of Surrey.{{London Gazette |issue=12172 |date=20 March 1781 |page=5}} Barker's ability as an officer won him the friendship and esteem of Clive.{{sfn|Stephens|1885|p=209}}

In 1780 he married Anne Hallows: they had no children. They lived at Bushbridge near Godalming in Surrey.

Besides the Thermometrical Observations published by the Royal Society, Barker also contributed Observations on a Voyage from Madras to England, 1774, and The Process of Making Ice in the East Indies to volume lxv., and an Account of an Observatory of the Brahmins at Benares to volume lxvii. of the Philosophical Transactions. {{sfn|Stephens|1885|p=209}}

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Attribution

• {{DNB|first=Henry Morse |last=Stephens |wstitle=Barker, Robert (1729?-1789) |volume=3 |pages=208–209}}; Endnotes:
• There is a very short, incomplete notice of Sir Robert Barker in Major Stubbs's History of the Royal Bengal Artillery, 2 volulemes, 1877
• consult also Malcolm's Life of Clive, Gleig's Life of Warren Hastings, and Mill's History of India
• for his services at Manila see Draper's despatch in the Gentlemen's Magazine for 1763, and for Kettle's paintings at his seat the Gentlemen's Magazine for 1786.

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Category:1732 births

Category:1789 deaths

Category:Members of the Parliament of Great Britain for English constituencies

Category:British Commanders-in-Chief of India

Category:British MPs 1774–1780

Category:British East India Company Army generals

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Category:Fellows of the Royal Society