Herbert Graham Barber

Herbert Graham Barber (known as Graham) was born in 1885 into a wealthy Quaker family. He was the eldest son of Herbert and Isabel Barber. Graham’s father Herbert worked for the family firm of Daniel Doncaster and Sons, Ltd, which imported Swedish iron and produced fine steels (his eldest sister, Hannah Mary, had married a member of the Doncaster family), eventually becoming a Director of the company. He was also Chairman of Burgon & Ball, Ltd, which produced sheep shears and sheep shearing machines. He was Master Cutler in 1909, and became a Justice of the Peace and President of the Dore and Totley Conservative Association. Graham’s mother Isabel was the daughter of John Yeomans, Town Clerk of Sheffield for 29 years. Herbert and Isabel married in 1883; in 1891, they were living on Abbey Lane, but by 1895 at the latest they had moved to The Firs, now 66 Dore Road, where they were still living at the time of the 1911 census.

Graham attended Leighton Park School, Reading (nicknamed “the Quaker Eton”). After leaving school in 1902, he studied in Geneva for a year before joining his father in the firm of Daniel Doncaster and Sons Ltd in 1903, becoming a Director in 1909.

Despite being a Quaker, Graham had shown an interest in military pursuits before the outbreak of the Great War, joining the Volunteer Force - a forerunner of the Territorial Force, which later became the Territorial Army. The London Gazette for 20th April 1906 records that, from 11th April 1906, Graham was a Second Lieutenant in the 1st (Hallamshire) Volunteer Battalion of the York & Lancaster Regiment. When the Territorial Force was created in 1908, he was transferred to the Regiment’s 4th (Hallamshire) Battalion, a Territorial battalion composed of soldiers recruited exclusively from the Sheffield area.

In his free time, Graham also helped in the Friends’ Adult Schools in the neighbourhood. The Adult Schools provided free education for the working classes; Graham’s grandfather, James Henry Barber, had been substantially involved in this charitable movement, which was also supported by the Doncaster family.

After the outbreak of war, Graham became a full-time soldier. He appears to have been an outstanding soldier. He went to France with his Battalion in April 1915. He was promoted to captain, and died in the battle of the Somme on 7th July 1916. He was 31. He is buried at Authuille Military Cemetery. Shortly before his death, he had been awarded the Military Cross.

The school magazine, The Leightonian, for December 1916 contained statements which give some indication of the esteem in which Graham was held. Major-General Percival, C.B., D.S.O., who commanded the 49th (West Riding) Division, of which the 4th (Hallamshire) Battalion formed a part, wrote: “It would be almost impossible to speak too highly of him. He was an excellent officer in every respect, not only very gallant under fire, but a fine example to those under him at all times. Everything he had to do seems to have been well done. I have never had better reports on any officer than those sent to me by his Commanding Officer and by his Brigadier-General.” Another officer wrote to his father: “I, perhaps, of those now left of the old Hallamshires, can best judge what a loss your son has been, not only to the country, but to our battalion in particular. During the war he brought out all the finest qualities of his nature, and from an easy-going and charming comrade, he became and most enthusiastic soldier and leader without sacrificing any of his charming nature. He was always thinking of his men, and to me he appealed as one worthy of every help. I feel that I am not disclosing any secret when I say that his Colonel thought of him as his successor.”

Herbert Barber seem to have moved away from Dore some time between 1911 and 1916 – possibly after Isabel’s death in 1915. The Probate Calendar gives Graham’s address as 1 Oak Park, Manchester Road, Sheffield; his military record card gives his father’s address as Elmfield, Sheffield - on Northumberland Road. However, although Herbert had moved away, Graham’s name is included on the memorial plaque in Dore Church, and also on the War Memorials in Edensor church and St John’s Church, Ranmoor.