re, on the 19th of June
1764. He started in life as superintending clerk of an iron foundry at
Liverpool and afterwards taught mathematics at a school in Greenwich.
Through the interest of Sir George Staunton, to whose son he taught
mathematics, he was attached on the first British embassy to China as
comptroller of the household to Lord Macartney. He soon acquired a good
knowledge of the Chinese language, on which he subsequently contributed
interesting articles to the _Quarterly Review_; and the account of the
embassy published by Sir George Staunton records many of Barrow's valuable
contributions to literature and science connected with China.

Although Barrow ceased to be officially connected with Chinese affairs
after the return of the embassy in 1794, he always took much interest in
them, and on critical occasions was frequently consulted by the British
government. In 1797 he accompanied Lord Macartney, as private secretary, in
his important and delicate mission to settle the government of the newly
acquired colony of the Cape of Good Hope. Barrow was entrusted with the
task of reconciling the Boers and Kaffirs and of reporting on the country
in the interior. On his return from his journey, in the course of which he
visited all parts of the colony, he was appointed auditor-general of public
accounts. He now decided to settle in South Africa, married Anne Maria
Trueter, and in 1800 bought a house in Cape Town. But the surrender of the
colony at the peace of Amiens (1802) upset this plan. He returned to
England in 1804, was appointed by Lord Melville second secretary to the
admiralty, a post which he held for [v.03 p.0441] forty years. He enjoyed
the esteem and confidence of all the eleven chief lords who successively
presided at the admiralty board during that period, and more especially of
King William IV. while lord high admiral, who honoured him with tokens of
his personal regard. Barrow was a fellow of the Royal Society, and in 1821
received the degree of LL.D. from Edinburgh University. A baronetcy was
conferred on him by Sir Robert Peel in 1835. He retired from public life in
1845 and devoted himself to writing a history of the modern Arctic voyages
of discovery (1846), of which he was a great promoter, as well as his
autobiography, published in 1847. He died suddenly on the 23rd of November
1848.

Besides the numerous articles in the _Quarterly Review_ already mentioned,
Barrow published among other works, _