(381) Barker (later Raymond-Barker) of Fairford Park

Barker of Fairford

The family considered here descend from a cadet branch of the Barkers of Haughmond Abbey (Shropshire), who will be the subject of a future post. In the late 16th and early 17th centuries, they were successful merchants in Bristol, and Andrew Barker (c.1618-1700) was one of three brothers  who were left fairly substantial property in and around the city when their father died in 1636. Nothing seems to be known of Andrew's early career in the troubled Civil War period, but he seems to have emerged from those years with his patrimony intact if not increased, so that he was in a position to take advantage of the distress sales of land by former Cavaliers who needed to raise capital to pay off their fines in the late 1640s and early 1650s. Andrew's core purchase was of the manor of Warwick Court at Fairford, which he purchased from Sir Robert Tracy in or about 1650 and involved in his marriage settlement, negotiated the same year. We do not know where Andrew's personal sympathies lay in the Civil War and Commonwealth period, but it may be that he was a closet Royalist, for immediately after the Restoration of the Monarchy he embarked on the building of a fashionable new house at Fairford, and on enclosing a park around it. In 1692 he became High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, but he seems to have found the duties too much for his advanced years, and his son Samuel Barker (1658-1708) was sworn in to take over the role for the second half of the year. Samuel inherited the estate in 1700, and was then still unmarried. In 1702 he became MP for Cricklade, and in 1706 he married Frances Hibbert, the daughter of a rich London skinner, who brought him a substantial dowry. Unfortunately, Samuel Barker died just two years after his marriage, leaving no son to succeed him, but two daughters, the elder of whom died in 1727. Frances may have been a nonconformist and have brought up her daughters in the Presbyterian faith, for during the rest of the century most of the family were adherents of that religion. Her surviving daughter, Esther Barker (c.1708-89), who came of age in about 1729, married in 1730 James Lambe (d. 1761), a London haberdasher and dissenter, but they had no children. In about 1740, however, they undertook an extensive remodelling of Fairford Park to bring it up to date, and a little later they improved the grounds too.

The Fairford estate might easily have been sold on Esther Lambe's death, but she determined to make her late husband's nephew, John Raymond (1742-1827) her heir. John came to live at Fairford in about 1780, at least on a part-time basis, to familiarise himself with the estate, and he undertook further improvements to the grounds at this time to the designs of William Emes. As soon as Esther Lambe had died, he also brought in John Soane to improve the interiors of the house, although what was done was modest in scope and essentially cosmetic. John was obliged by the terms of Esther's will to take the additional name of Barker, and his descendants have remained Raymond-Barkers down to the present day. John married first the daughter of a Governor of the Bank of England, by whom he had fifteen children, and after she died he married again and had a further two daughters. His second surviving son, James (1771-1832), a banker, married the widow of the Russian merchant who was executed for assassinating the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval. A younger son, Thomas (1778-1866), was cited as co-respondent in a high profile divorce case in 1811, but survived the scandal to become a Chairman of the Thames Conservancy and a leading figure in the Royal Agricultural Society. Another son, William (1783-1801), joined the East India Company but was unfortunate enough to travel out to India on a clipper that was captured by French privateers, when he was one of many passengers and crewmen to be murdered. His youngest daughter was the wife of Canon Edward Pusey, one of the founders of the Oxford Movement.

The Fairford estate passed to John's eldest surviving son, Daniel Raymond-Barker (1770-1827), a London banker who survived his father by just a few months before dying in a riding accident. He was followed by his eldest son, John Raymond-Barker (1801-88), the highpoint of whose long tenure of the property was acting as High Sheriff in 1853. His first marriage produced two daughters, and his second marriage one son, Percy Fitzhardinge Raymond-Barker (1843-95). There is nothing about Percy's career to suggest that there was anything wayward about him, but he seems to have fallen out with his father, who left an unusual will in which his property passed to trustees for the benefit of his wife and daughters, with remainder to Percy's son, Reginald Raymond-Barker (1875-1939). The result was that Percy had no right to Fairford Park and anyway could not afford to live there. He rented a series of smaller properties but must have lived a hand-to-mouth existence, as he died almost penniless. Fairford Park was let, the trustees being fortunate in finding two long-term tenants, Col. Porter (1889-1900) and Col. A.J. Palmer (1902-38). In 1906, on the death of Miss Leonora Barker, the reversion to Reginald came into effect, but as he was unmarried he decided to continue the lease to Col. Palmer, and the family never lived at Fairford again. In his later years he lived at Redlynch Park (Somerset), which belonged to his friend, the Dowager Countess of Suffolk and Berkshire. Reginald died there in 1939 and during the Second World War his executors sold the Fairford estate to Ernest Cook. Cook wanted to pass the house to the National Trust, but the Trust was unenthusiastic and was unwilling to accept it while a Polish refugee camp occupied the grounds, which the War Office expected to continue until about 1960. In the end, Cook lost patience and set up an educational foundation which was endowed with the estate. The Trust later sold the house to Gloucestershire County Council as the site for a new secondary school, and the main block of the house was demolished in 1957.

Fairford Park, Gloucestershire

Richard Neville, Earl of Warwick (d.1471) is believed to have had a manor house called Warwick Court north of Fairford church.  When he was attainted and forfeited his lands in 1478, the Crown leased the estate to the Tame family, who rebuilt the house in the early 16th century.  After passing through several hands, the manor was acquired in 1591 by the Tracys of Toddington, for whom Fairford was always a secondary and outlying estate.  When, during the Civil War, the Tracy family estates were sequestered, the compensation paid to retrieve them led the family into financial difficulties, and Sir Robert Tracy sold Fairford to Andrew Barker, one of the few men in Gloucestershire successfully to found a dynasty during the Civil War.

Fairford Park: view of the house by John Kip, c.1710, from Atkyns' Ancient & Present State of Glostershire.

Barker, who acquired Fairford in 1650 and died in 1700, made his estate one of the most fashionable in the county.  In 1661-2 a new house was built on a site to the north of the old manor by the leading Cotswold mason, Valentine Strong, who died, however, before it was finished, leaving his son Thomas to complete the house. The only illustration to show the house before later alterations is Kip's engraving of c.1710, which depicts a two-storey, seven-by-five bay double-pile house with gabled dormers.

Fairford Park: doorcase of 1661-62.
Image: Historic England

This was quite clearly influenced by Coleshill, a few miles away in Berkshire, the lessons of which Strong must have absorbed since designing the more traditional Lower Slaughter Manor in 1656. Its classical pedigree is evident in the string-course, cornice and classical central doorway with scrolled pediment supported on Corinthian pilasters. 

Having completed the house, Barker moved on to embellish the gardens.  Kip shows a quite elaborate formal garden, with two long terraces lined with conifers leading up to elaborate gates on the axis of the house, and framing a pattern of eight lawns, each focused on a figure sculpture, with a fountain pool at the centre of the composition.  Around this were kitchen and nursery beds surrounded by hedges, presumably of beech, and avenues of trees stretching all the way from the house to the town. It is often claimed that the details of the gardens in Kip's views owe as much to artistic licence or the wishful thinking of his patrons as to reality, but at Fairford it is clear from a survey plan of c.1690 (Glos Archives, D674b P53) that almost every hedge and tree in Kip's engraving actually existed.

Fairford Park in the early 20th century.

Barker's perfect late 17th-century creation was not left undisturbed for long.  At his death in 1700, the estate passed to his son Samuel (d.1708), and then to his two grand‑daughters, one of whom died in 1727, leaving the other, Esther, and her husband James Lambe of Hackney (Middx), as sole owners.  James Lambe altered both the house and the grounds before his death in 1761. The alterations to the house, perhaps made around 1740, no doubt included the Gibbs surrounds to the ground floor windows, the addition of a third floor in place of the original dormered attics, and the construction of a two‑storeyed link to a remodelled stable court.  The architect of these works seems not to be recorded, but they left the house with four main rooms on the ground floor: a large entrance hall with a screen of columns across one end; the drawing room, dining room and library. 

Fairford Park: dining room, as remodelled c.1740 and again by Soane in 1789-90. This unsigned watercolour has only recently come to light in a family scrapbook. Image: Karen Taylor Fine Art

The formal gardens had been modernised but not wholly eliminated by 1751, when Bishop Pococke visited and wrote:

Near the town ... [is] a very good house with a fine lawn before it, in which the trees indeed are planted as three avenues; behind this the gardens are laid out in the wilderness way, and there is a small park beautifully adorned with clumps of trees. But what is very fine is a terrace on an eminence over the river, which is form'd into a very fine serpentine for near a mile in length; towards the north end is a round basin, from which a cascade opens to a walk of the garden; this at some distance is encompassed as with a square form'd by canals that spoils the beauty of the thing, which, if the angles were broke, would form a beautiful island, as made by the division of the waters.

Fairford Park: the surviving monument in the park. Image: Jonathan Ballinger. Some rights reserved.

It may well be that at the time of Pococke's visit alterations were still in progress, for he does not mention the large monument that later provided a termination to one of the avenues. This is, however, shown on an estate plan of 1761 and is referred to in a description published in 1763, which complements Pococke's:

Opposite the north front of the villa stand four images, representing the four seasons of the year; beyond which is a vista through the deer park, terminated by an obelisk, nearly a mile distant, between two woods. The wilderness consists of serpentine walks, adorn'd with images, urns, grottos &c included chiefly between three vistas. From the upper end of the middle one is a most pleasant and delightful view of the canal (answering thereto) proceeding from the river Coln, which glides its silver streams along the bottom of the wilderness. The whole of the garden and the wilderness is in a modern and elegant taste, well stock'd with fruit‑trees, shrubs, flowers &c.

It is clear from this that the bones of the formal garden had been elaborately adapted in the mid‑century Rococo taste, although nothing of the new layout can be discerned on the 1761 plan.

Fairford Park: estate map of 1834 showing the gardenesque layout of the grounds at that time
(Glos Archives P141 MI 7/1)

James Lambe's widow, Esther, lived on until 1789, when she bequeathed her property to her nephew John Raymond, on the condition that he assumed the name of Barker. It would appear, however, that Barker was in control of the estate before his aunt's death, for in 1783‑7 the grounds were remodelled yet again at his command by William Emes. The park was enlarged by moving the road from Fairford to Quenington further east in 1785, and a plan made in connection with this shows informal planting at the north end of the park. Pococke’s description suggests the widening of the River Coln to form a sinuous lake known as Broad Water had already taken place, but the bridge at its northern end seems likely to date from the late 18th century. The earlier monument in the park was retained, and a Tuscan Doric temple and a neo-classical orangery were built.  These buildings may have been designed by Emes, but the orangery may owe something to John Soane, whom Raymond‑Barker brought in to remodel the interior of the house as soon as he gained possession in 1789 (though there are no plans for it in the Soane Museum, and payments only for the interior works in Soane's accounts).  The orangery bears many points of similarity to a garden building known as the Music Room at Earsham Hall in Norfolk, which Soane altered. 

Fairford Park: the drawing room, redecorated in the early 19th century, when it was opened up into the former entrance hall. Watercolour by Charlotte Bosanquet. Image: Karen Taylor Fine Art

In the house, Soane altered the interiors of the dining room and library, subdivided the entrance hall, and installed a new drawing room chimneypiece. Although there are a few photographs of the interior of the house taken around the time the house was demolished, the interiors are not well recorded, so the recent discovery of three drawings of the library, drawing room and dining room in the mid 19th century are a rather exciting discovery. Comparing the drawings with Soane’s plan of his intended alterations (now in the Soane Museum), suggests there were some further changes between 1789 and the date of these drawings, in particular the opening up of the wall between the drawing room and the entrance vestibule and the introduction of bookcases to the latter; the installation of a glazed front door with marginal lights was no doubt done at the same time. The drawing of the library shows double doors in the end wall rather than a narrow door in the corner as Soane intended. These double doors would have led into the staircase hall under the rising flight of the staircase, which itself was evidently replaced in the early 19th century, perhaps at the same time as the entrance to the library was improved.

Fairford Park: drawing of the library altered by Soane in 1789-90 and later. Watercolour by Augusta Raymond-Barker. Image: Karen Taylor Fine Art.

John Raymond‑Barker died in 1827, and the estate passed to his grandson, John (d.1888), whom Burke records as having 'considerably improved' the interior. It is possible that the gardenesque layout of the pleasure grounds adjoining the house shown on a plan of 1834 was also his work. From 1889 onwards the house was usually let, but it remained in the possession of the family until 1945, when Reginald Raymond­ Barker's executors sold it with 2,400 acres to Ernest Cook.  Cook offered the house to the National Trust in 1948, but it was rejected, and in 1952 the estate was included in the endowments of an educational charity which he established.  The charity sold the house to the County Council as the site for a new secondary school in 1955, and it was finally demolished in August 1957, when Soane's staircase was moved to Corsham Court, and a chimneypiece, for which the designs are in the Soane Museum, went to the Victoria & Albert Museum. Twenty tons of paving slabs from the house were reused in Fairford church.  

Fairford Park: the house in the course of demolition in 1957. Image: Historic England

In the grounds, the orangery was dismantled in 1955 by the National Trust and put into store for many years, before being bought by Sir Tatton Sykes for re-erection at Sledmere House in Yorkshire.  The Doric Temple was bought by David Verey and re‑erected at Barnsley House. The monument still stands in the park, which continues to be owned by the Ernest Cook Trust.  Modern school buildings now occupy the site of what is probably the most tragic of the 20th‑century country house demolitions in Gloucestershire, although the stable court survives as estate offices and labourers' cottages.

Fairford Park: a poignant photograph of the members of the Soane drawing room chimneypiece (for which the design is in the Soane Museum) after removal from the house in 1957. The chimneypiece was later acquired by the Victoria & Albert Museum, London. Image: Historic England.

Descent: sold 1650 to Andrew Barker (c.1630-1700); to son, Samuel Barker (c.1659-1708); to daughter, Esther (d. 1789), wife of James Lambe (d. 1761); to her husband's nephew, John Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1742-1827); to son, Daniel Raymond-Barker (d. 1827); to son, John Raymond-Barker (1801-88); to son, Percy Fitzhardinge Raymond-Barker (1843-95); to son, Reginald Raymond-Barker (1875-1939), whose executors sold 1945 to Ernest Cook (1865-1955); gifted 1952 to Ernest Cook Trust; sold 1955 to Gloucestershire County Council, which demolished the house in 1957. The house was leased to Col. Porter (1889-1900) and Col. A.J. Palmer (1902-38).

Barker (later Raymond-Barker) family of Fairford Park

Barker, Andrew (c.1618-1700). Son of John Barker (1584-1636) of Bristol, merchant and his first wife Elizabeth (d. 1625), daughter of William Spicer of Exeter, merchant, born about 1618. He was brought up in Bristol by his stepmother, Mary, daughter of John Fownes of Bristol, merchant, and widow of Matthew Rogers of Alderley (Glos), and since his father and son attended Oxford University, he was perhaps the man of this name who subscribed in the University books, 1635. He may also be the Andrew Barker who was admitted to Clare College, Cambridge (mat. 1641) and to Lincolns Inn (adm. 1646). In 1668 he procured a charter for a weekly market and two annual cattle fairs at Fairford. High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, 1692, but served only part of the year before arranging for his son to complete his term. He married, c.1651 (settlement 4 February 1650/1), Elizabeth (d. 1704), daughter of William Robinson of the Inner Temple and of Cheshunt (Herts), and had issue:
(1) Jane Barker (1655-73), born 11 February and baptised at Fairford, 16 February 1654/5; married, 12 February 1671, Sir William Fermor (1648-1711), 2nd bt. and later 1st Baron Leominster (who m2, June 1682, Catherine (1664-87), daughter of John Poulett, 3rd Baron Poulett and had further issue one daughter; and married 3rd, 5 January 1691/2, Lady Sophia (1661-1746), daughter of Thomas Osborne, 1st Duke of Leeds and widow of Donough O'Brien, Lord Ibracken and had five more children), and had issue one daughter; died in childbirth, 10 August and was buried at Easton Neston (Northants), 12 August 1673;
(2) John Barker (b. 1657), born 28 March and baptised at Fairford, 31 March 1657; presumably died young;
(3) Samuel Barker (1658-1708) (q.v.);
(4) Elizabeth Barker (1660-1723), born 26 August and baptised at Fairford, 2 September 1660; married, 1 May 1699, Thomas Delves (1652-1725) of Eardshaw (Cheshire), esq., and had issue one son; died 24 May 1723;
(5) Robinson Barker (1662-63), baptised at Fairford 6 March 1661/2; died in infancy and was buried at Fairford, 2 May 1663;
(6) Mary Barker (fl. 1715); probably died unmarried; living in 1715.
He purchased the Fairford estate from Sir Robert Tracy in 1650 and rebuilt the house to the designs of Valentine Strong in 1661-62.
He was buried at Fairford, 13 December 1700. His widow was buried at Fairford, 17 November 1704.

Barker, Samuel (1658-1708). Only surviving son of Andrew Barker (c.1620-1700), born 6 May and baptised at Fairford 11 May 1658. Educated at Trinity College, Oxford (matriculated 1676). High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, March-November 1692, completing his father's term. He stood unsuccessfully for Parliament in Cricklade in 1690 and declined to stand for Cirencester in 1692, but was elected Whig MP for Cricklade, 1702-08. He married, 7 July 1706, Frances, daughter of John Hibbert, of London, skinner, and had issue:
(1) Elizabeth Barker (c.1707-27); died unmarried, 1727;
(2) Esther Barker (c.1708-89) (q.v.).
He inherited Fairford Park from his father in 1700.
He died 1 May and was buried at Fairford, 15 May 1708. His widow's date of death is unknown.

Barker, Esther (c.1708-89). Younger daughter of Samuel Barker (1658-1708), born about 1708. She married, July 1730, James Lambe (d. 1761) of Hackney, haberdasher, son of James Lambe (d. 1727) of Hackney, but had no issue.
She and her sister inherited Fairford Park from her father in 1708, but her sister dying in 1727 she became sole heiress; she came of age in about 1729. At her death she bequeathed the estate to her husband's nephew, John Raymond (later Raymond-Barker).
She died 27 April and was buried at Fairford, 6 May 1789; her will was proved 29 April 1789. Her husband died in 1761; his will was proved 11 April 1761.

Raymond, John (1708-82). Son of Samuel Raymond (d. 1730) of London, brewer, and his wife Anne, daughter of Nicholas Skinner of Firbeck (Yorks), baptised at Hackney (Middx), 25 November 1708. Brewer in London. Whig MP for Weymouth & Melcombe Regis, 1741-47 and brewer to the Board of Victualling (for the Navy), 1748-82. He was a nonconformist (probably a Presbyterian) in religion. He married 1st, 10 November 1735, Britannia (c.1715-43), daughter of James Lambe (d. 1727) of Hackney and sister-in-law of Esther Barker (q.v.), and 2nd, 21 June 1744, her sister Mary (c.1713-95), and had issue:
(1.1) Britannia Raymond (c.1737-1829); married Charles Tirrel Morgan (1743-1805) of Fairford, barrister and Professor of Moral Philosophy at Oxford University, 1772-1805; died aged 91 on 22 June 1829;
(1.2) Elizabeth Raymond (d. 1823); married Thomas Lane (d. c.1799); died in London, 4 January 1823;
(1.3) John Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1742-1827) (q.v.);
(2.1) Mary Raymond (1745-86), baptised at St Anne, Limehouse (Middx), 9 November 1745; married, 19 November 1771 at St Botolph without Bishopsgate, London, John Warren, and had issue; buried at Bunhill Fields burying ground, 5 September 1786;
(2.2) Anne Raymond (b. 1747), born 22 June and baptised at St. Anne, Limehouse, 10 July 1747; said to have married William Coates of Highgate but had no issue;
(2.3) Sarah Raymond (1749-1802), baptised at St. Anne, Limehouse (Middx), 29 June 1749; married, 31 March 1772 at St Stephen Walbrook, London, John Wansey (d. 1820); buried at St John, Hackney (Middx), 15 November 1802;
(2.4) Hannah Raymond (b. 1750), baptised at St. Anne, Limehouse (Middx), 2 September 1750; perhaps died young.
He purchased the Hatchlands estate in Surrey in 1739 but sold it again in 1750.
He died 20 January 1782 and was buried at Hackney. His first wife died 2 May 1743. His widow died 7 April 1795 and was buried at Hackney.

Raymond (later Raymond-Barker), John (1742-1827). Son of John Raymond MP (c.1712-82) of Hatchlands (Surrey) and his wife Britannia (d. by 1746), born 1742. A director of the South Sea Company. In 1781 he won £20,000 in a national lottery, which perhaps funded his improvements to the house and grounds at Fairford Park. He took the additional surname of Barker by royal licence, 1789, in accordance with the will of Esther Lambe, but he was resident at Fairford by 1780. JP for Gloucestershire; High Sheriff of Gloucestershire (as substitute for William Tindall of North Cerney), 1797. He was a Presbyterian in religion. He married 1st, September 1768, Martha (1745-96), daughter of Daniel Booth of Hutton Hall (Essex), Governor of the Bank of England, and 2nd, 6 May 1799 at Hackney, Margaret (1765-1851), eldest daughter of Thomas Boddington of Clapton, Hackney (Middx), West India merchant, and had issue:
(1.1) John Raymond (1769-83), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 12 June 1769; died young and was buried at Bunhill Fields burial ground, Islington, 14 August 1783;
(1.2) Daniel Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1770-1827) (q.v.);
(1.3) James Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1771-1832), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 29 May 1771; banker; lived at Highbury Grove, Islington and Everton near Liverpool (Lancs); married, 14 June 1813 at Thornton-in-Craven (Yorks WR), Mary (1781-1853), daughter of [forename unknown] Neville, a Liverpool Quaker merchant, and widow of John Bellingham, the Russia merchant executed in 1812 for the murder of the Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval; buried at Hackney, 1 June 1832; will proved 23 June 1832;
(1.4) Esther Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1772-97), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 8 July 1772; married, 15 April 1794 at St George, Hanover Square, London, John March junior (d. 1804) of London, and had issue two daughters; buried at Bunhill Fields burying ground, Islington, 17 November 1797;
(1.5) Elizabeth Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (b. 1773), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 11 August 1773; perhaps died young;
(1.6) Henry Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1774-c.1803), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 10 August 1774; an officer in 2nd Regiment of Madras Native Infantry (Lt.); married, 10 March 1794 at St. Pancras (Middx), Harriot Louisa Stone (c.1774-1823); died intestate at Seringapatam (India); administration of his goods was granted to his principal creditors, 30 June 1803;
(1.7) Martha Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1776-1847), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 18 June 1776; died unmarried, 9 April and was buried at Fairford, 16 April 1847;
(1.8) Thomas Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1778-1866), probably born 24 January and baptised at St Thomas' Presbyterian Chapel, Southwark (Surrey), 25 February 1778; educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1795; BA 1799); Fellow of Merton College, Oxford (MA 1803) until 1811; cited as co-respondent in 1809-11 in legal proceedings between Edward Loveden (c.1750-1822) of Buscot Park (Berks) and his wife Ann, and was fortunate not to be found guilty of 'criminal conversation'; after 1811 Ann and Thomas lived together openly at Baker's House, Hambleden (Bucks) until her death in 1821; JP for Buckinghamshire and Oxfordshire; Chairman of the Thames Commissioners; for many years a committee member of the Royal Agricultural Society (and Chairman of its Finance Committee); married, 14 December 1824 at Great Marlow (Bucks), Eliza Jane (c.1782-1860), daughter of Thomas Somers Cocks, but had no issue; died aged 88 on 23 June 1866; will proved 18 July 1866 (effects under £20,000);
(1.9) Charles Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1779-1838), born 25 January and baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 18 February 1779; a director of the South Sea Company and of insurance companies; married, 10 June 1811, Elizabeth (d. 1825), daughter of Nathaniel Barnardiston of The Ryes, and had issue four sons and one daughter; died 14 February 1838;
(1.10) Mary Raymond (b. 1780), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, about May 1780; died young;
(1.11) Fanny Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (c.1782-1838), born about 1782; died unmarried, 22 February and was buried at Fairford, 1 March 1838; will proved in the PCC, 11 May 1838 (effects under £20,000);
(1.12) William Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1783-1801), born 14 May 1783; a search for his baptism in 1800 was unsuccessful; educated at Dr Horne's School, Chiswick; a writer in the East India Co.'s Bengal service, 1800-01; killed on his passage to India when the 'Kent' East Indiaman was captured by French privateers, February 1801;
(1.13) Frederick Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1786-1819), born 30 January and baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 9 March 1786; educated at Exeter College, Oxford (matriculated 1806; BA 1810; MA 1813); ordained deacon and priest, 1810; vicar of Taynton (Oxon), 1814-19 and Little Barrington (Glos), 1815-19; married, 5 May 1819 at Somerford Keynes (Glos), Julia (c.1782-1865), daughter of George Chawner of The Elms (Derbys), but had no issue; he died just ten weeks later on 24 July and was buried at Taynton, 31 July 1819; his will, proved 23 September 1819, had not been updated since his marriage and therefore did not provide for his widow;
(1.14) George Raymond (later Raymond-Barker) (1787-88), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 23 June 1787; died in infancy and was buried at Bunhill Fields burying ground, Islington, 14 March 1788;
(1.15) Edward Raymond-Barker (b. 1791), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 9 May 1791; died young;
(2.1) Georgiana Maria Raymond-Barker (1800-78), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 6 May 1800; died unmarried, 8 January and was buried at Fairford, 16 January 1878; will proved 15 February 1878 (effects under £25,000);
(2.2) Maria Catherine Raymond-Barker (1801-39), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 5 June 1801; married, 12 June 1828, Canon Edward Bouverie Pusey DD (1800-82), Regius Professor of Hebrew at University of Oxford and one of the chief promoters of the Oxford Movement, and had issue one son and three daughters; died 26 May 1839.
He inherited the Fairford estate from his aunt by marriage, 1789, but was in occupation there by 1780. He also leased 47 Bedford Square from 1782-99 and later a house in Portman Sq., London.
He died 16 January and was buried at Fairford, 26 January 1827; his will was proved in the PCC, 1 March 1827. His first wife was buried at Fairford, 8 December 1796. His widow died in London, 30 January 1851; her will was proved 13 February 1851.

Raymond (later Raymond-Barker), Daniel* (1770-1827). Elder son of John Raymond-Barker (1742-1827) and his first wife Martha, daughter of Daniel Booth of Hutton Hall (Essex), baptised at Carter Lane Presbyterian Church, London, 20 June 1770. Banker in London. JP for Gloucestershire from 1801. He married, 24 January 1795 at St George Tombland, Norwich (Norfk), Sophia Anne (c.1774-1809), youngest daughter of John Ives of Norwich, merchant, and had issue:
(1) Raymond Raymond-Barker (1795-96), born 13 October and baptised at St Marylebone (Middx), 22 December 1795; died in infancy and was buried in Quaker Burial Ground at Bunhill Fields, London, 1 April 1796;
(2) Raymond Raymond-Barker (1798-1814), born 5 February and baptised at St Marylebone, 19 March 1798; died in London and was buried at Fairford, 17 May 1814;
(3) John Raymond-Barker (1801-88) (q.v.);
(4) George Ives Raymond-Barker (1803-87), born 10 February and baptised at St George Tombland, Norwich, 13 March 1803; an officer in the Fairford & Cirencester Troop of Yeomanry Cavalry (Lt., 1831; Capt., 1834); director of insurance companies; Hon. Sec. of the Cirencester Agricultural Society for several years after its formation in c.1830; married, 5 June 1861 at St George, Hanover Sq., London, Elizabeth Palmer (1805-92), daughter of William Moffat and widow of Col. Black; lived at The Croft, Fairford and latterly at 17 Royal Crescent, Bath (Somerset); died at Hove (Sussex), 17 July 1887; will proved 21 September 1887 (effects £9,751);
(5) Canon Henry Charles Raymond-Barker (c.1805-89); educated at Eton and Merton College, Oxford (matriculated 1823; BA 1827; MA 1832); ordained deacon, 1829 and priest, 1830; rector of Daglingworth (Glos), 1841-89; hon. canon of Bristol Cathedral, 1873-89; married, 3 January 1856 at St Mary, Bryanston Sq., London, Sophia (1805-92), daughter of [forename unknown] Broadwood and widow of Samuel Bosanquet (1797-1848); died 8 September and was buried at Daglingworth, 12 September 1889; will proved 23 October 1889 (effects £14,391);
(6) Sophia Anna Raymond-Barker (c.1805-76); married, 9 January 1827 at St Mary, Bryanston Sq., London, Bernard Brocas (d. 1861) and had issue three sons and three daughters; lived at Mannheim (Germany) and later at of Beaurepaire House (Hants); became blind by 1851;  died 13 January 1876; will proved 9 February 1876 (effects under £3,000);
(7) Harriet Ives Raymond-Barker (1806-54), baptised at Longborough, 11 July 1806; married, 3 February 1830 at Fairford, Rev. Francis William Rice (1804-78), later 5th Baron Dynevor, vicar of Fairford 1827-78 (who m2, 18 November 1856, Eliza Amelia Knox (d. 1896) and had further issue two sons and three daughters), son of the Hon. & Very Rev. Dr. Edward Rice, Dean of Gloucester, and had issue one son and one daughter; died 22 July 1854.
He rented Banks Fee House, Longborough (Glos) and also lived in London until he inherited Fairford Park from his father in January 1827.
He died after being thrown into a ditch by a startled horse, 24 July 1827, and was buried at Fairford, 2 August 1827. His wife died 2 April and was buried at Fairford, 8 April 1809.
* Press reports of his death call him John, but this appears to be an error.

Raymond-Barker, John Raymond (1801-88). Eldest son of Daniel Raymond-Barker (1770-1827) and his wife Sophia Anne, youngest daughter of John Ives of Norwich, born 30 March and baptised at Longborough (Glos), 26 May 1801. Educated at Oriel College, Oxford (matriculated 1819). An officer in the 3rd Foot Guards (Ensign & Lt., 1820; retired on half-pay, 1824) and later of the Fairford & Cirencester Troop of Yeomanry Cavalry (Capt., 1831; resigned, 1834); JP and DL for Gloucestershire; High Sheriff of Gloucestershire, 1853. He was a founder member of the Gloucestershire Liberal and Constitutional Reform Club, 1834. He married 1st, 6 May 1823 at St Marylebone (Middx), Harriott Ives (1798-1830), youngest daughter of William Bosanquet of London, banker, and 2nd, 14 December 1841 at Sarsden (Oxon), Lady Katherine (c.1815-92), youngest daughter of Thomas Reynolds Moreton, 4th Baron and 1st Earl of Ducie, had issue:
(1.1) Augusta Raymond-Barker (1827-95), born 16 March and baptised at St Marylebone (Middx), 26 April 1827; married, 1 January 1856 at Fairford, Col. Sir Lumley Graham (1828-90), 4th bt., of Kirkstall (Yorks WR), who had been severely wounded at Sebastopol and had lost his right arm, but had no issue; lived at Arlington Manor (Berks); died 13 July 1895; will proved 23 December 1895 (effects £15,797);
(1.2) Leonora Raymond Raymond-Barker (1829-1906), born 27 February and baptised at Fairford, 23 April 1829; died unmarried, 13 August and was buried at Fairford, 17 August 1906; her will, proved September 1906 (estate £32,718), made her nephew Reginald Raymond-Barker her principal heir;
(2.1) Percy Fitzhardinge Raymond-Barker (1843-95) (q.v.).
He inherited Fairford Park from his father in July 1827. At his death he vested his estate in trustees for the benefit of his daughters with remainder to his son's son, and the estate was thereafter let.
He died 21 May 1888; his will was proved 15 August 1888 (estate £51,449). His first wife died 8 September 1830. His widow died 2 December 1892; her will was proved in January 1893 (effects over £21,000).

Raymond-Barker, Percy Fitzhardinge (1843-95). Only son of John Raymond-Barker (1801-88) and his second wife, Lady Katherine, youngest daughter of Thomas Reynolds Moreton, 4th Baron and 1st Earl of Ducie of Tortworth Court (Glos), born 23 February and baptised at Fairford, 23 May 1843. Educated at Eton. An officer in the Royal Gloucestershire Hussars (Cornet; Lt., 1868). JP for Gloucestershire by 1866. Governor of Fairford Free School, 1876. He was a freemason from 1862 and was a noted horseman and amateur jockey, who in 1866 qualified to ride in the Grand National. He married, 25 June 1874 at St George, Hanover Square, London, Morna Georgina (1848-1919), second daughter of Sir Joseph Hawley, 3rd bt., of Leybourne Grange (Kent), and had issue:
(1) Reginald Raymond-Barker (1875-1939) (q.v.);
(2) Hugh William Henage Raymond-Barker (1876-1939) (q.v.).
Before his father's death he rented The Limes, Dyer St., Cirencester and later Pinkney Park at Sherston (Wilts). He was cut out of his father's will, but was the principal beneficiary of his mother's will. He lived latterly at The Ferns, Tetbury.
He died 25 February and was buried at Fairford, 1 March 1895; administration of his goods was granted to his widow, 29 June 1895 (effects £202). His widow died 19 September 1919; her will was proved 3 January 1920 (estate £5,939).

Reginald Raymond-Barker
(1875-1939) 

Raymond-Barker, Reginald (1875-1939). Elder son of Percy Fitzhardinge Raymond-Barker (1843-95) and his wife Morna Georgina, second daughter of Sir Joseph Hawley, 3rd bt., of Leybourne Grange (Kent), born 8 February 1875. He was a keen horseman and follower of the Beaufort and Berkeley Hounds. He was unmarried and without issue.
He inherited Fairford Park on the death of his aunt in 1906, but continued to let it. After his death his executors sold the estate in 1945 to Ernest Cook. He lived latterly at Redlynch Park, Bruton (Somerset), which belonged to his friend, the Dowager Countess of Suffolk & Berkshire.
He died at Redlynch Park (Somerset), 19 June 1939; his will was proved 12 September and 26 October 1939 (estate £84,875).

Raymond-Barker, Hugh William Heneage (1876-1939). Younger son of Percy Fitzhardinge Raymond-Barker (1843-95) and his wife Morna Georgina, second daughter of Sir Joseph Hawley, 3rd bt., of Leybourne Grange (Kent), born 15 February 1876. Educated at Eton. Like his brother, he was a keen horseman and follower of the Beaufort and Berkeley Hounds. He married, 18 June 1907, Dorothy (1888-1968), second daughter of T. J. Forsyth Forrest of The Querns, Cirencester (Glos), and had issue:
(1) William Percy Raymond-Barker (1908-2000), born at Eastbourne (Sussex), 26 June and baptised at Tetbury (Glos), 29 July 1908; tea planter in Ceylon, 1929-39; served in Second World War with Royal Regiment of Artillery (2nd Lt., 1941); lived at Long Newnton and after his mother's death in Chelsea (Middx); died unmarried and without issue, 6 March 2000; will was proved 23 March 2001;
(2) Thomas Raymond-Barker (1914-2002), born at Oaksey (Wilts), 8 May and baptised at Foxley (Wilts), 2 July 1914; emigrated to Salisbury (Rhodesia) but return to England by 1963; married, 7 July 1946, Mafalda (b. 1922), second daughter of F. Marcon of Bologna (Italy) and had issue one son and one daughter; died 2002.
He lived at The Ferns, Tetbury (Glos) and later at Upper House, Crudwell (Wilts) and at The Cottage, Long Newnton (Glos).
He died in Bath, 19 May 1939; his will was proved 25 July 1939 (estate £33,666). His widow died in 1968.

Sources

Burke's Landed Gentry, 1952, p. 112; Sir R. Atkyns, The ancient and present state of Glostershire, 1712, plate facing p. 430; S. Rudder, A history of Fairford church, 1763, p.16; J.J. Burke, Visitation of Seats and Arms, Series II, vol.1 (1854), p.43; J. J. Cartwright (ed.), Travels through England of Dr. Richard Pococke, Camden Society, 1888, ii, pp. 252‑3; C.B. Andrews, The Torrington diaries, vol. 1, 1934; VCH Glos, vii, 1981, p. 75; P. de la Ruffiniere du Prey, John Soane: the making of an architect, 1982, pp. 15-16; D. Stroud, Sir John Soane, architect, 1996, pp. 124-5; Verey & Brooks, The buildings of England: Gloucestershire - The Cotswolds, 2nd edn., 1999, pp. 369-70;

Location of archives

Raymond-Barker of Fairford Park: deeds and estate papers, 1558-1924 [Gloucestershire Archives, D182, D1728, D3409]

Coat of arms

Azure, five escallops in cross, or.

Can you help?

• I should be most grateful if anyone can provide photographs or portraits of people whose names appear in bold above, and who are not already illustrated.
• As always, any additions or corrections to the account given above will be gratefully received and incorporated.

Revision and acknowledgements

This post was first published 30 June 2019 and was updated 1-3 July and 22 August 2019. I am most grateful to Karen Taylor Fine Art for permitting the use of the drawings of interiors at Fairford Park.