Thomas Groom Barker

• Born  :  1829
• Baptism   :  15 November 1829 at Manchester Cathedral
• Marriage  :  29 Jun 1864 to Annie Murphy at St John, Deansgate, Manchester
• Died  :  6th March 1915
• Burial :  Peel Green Cemetery, Eccles

The son of James Barker, a builder employing 16 men and his wife Eliza, Thomas Groom Barker was born in the Oldfield Road area of Salford in 1829. He became a pupil, assistant, and afterwards a partner of Edward Walters, the architect of the Free Trade Hall, Manchester. In the 1850s he assisted in making the drawings for the Free Trade Hall, Williams Deacon’s Bank, and many large warehouse buildings for which Edward Walters was the architect and in 1865 he and George Ellis took over the practice.

Following the death of George Ellis in 1890 Thomas Groom Barker continued the practice alone until about 1910 when he took Francis Jones into partnership. At this time the partnership was re-named Barker Ellis and Jones. In his entire professional career, Thomas Groom Barker received only one commission under his own name, having entered and won the competition for the Victoria Arch, Crescent, Salford, in 1859.

Thomas Groom Barker travelled widely in France, Belgium, Germany, America, Spain, Greece and Egypt and spent a considerable time in Italy. He studied the architecture of all these countries and read copiously in his favourite subject.

On 29 June 1864 he married Annie, daughter of James Murphy, fruitier, of Chapel Street, Salford at St John’s Church, Deansgate. Their daughter, Mary Barker, was christened on 3 February 1865 at Manchester Cathedral but appears not to have survived infancy. Annie died in 1866 and Thomas never re-married.

Thomas Groom Barker died on 6 March 1915 at his residence, “The Mount” Gilda Brook Road, Eccles, on 6 March 1915 and was interred at Peel Green Cemetery, Eccles

 Residence
1859    Thomas Groom Barker Oldfield Road, Salford (Manchester Courier
1861    No reference in Slater's Directory
1871    Thomas G Barker, architect (Barker & Ellis) Monton Lane, Eccles.  (Slater’s Directory)
1876    "The Mount" Gilda Brook, Eccles (Slater Alphabetical))
1881    Eccles Old Road, Eccles (Census Return)
1886    "The Mount" Gilda Brook, Eccles (Slater)
1891    Thomas G Barker, architect (Barker & Ellis), “The Mount,” Gilda Brook, Eccles. (Slater)

Obituary
Reference    Manchester Guardian Tuesday 9 March 1915 Page 9 – obituary
Reference    Building News 12 March 1915 page 294
Reference    Builder v108 19 March 1915 Page 278 as BN with additional final sentence
Reference    British Architect 19 March 1915 p149 (from Manchester Guardian)