Allegiance United Kingdom Rank General Service/branch British Army | Awards Order of the Bath Name George Barker | |
Commands held Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong
Governor of Bermuda Battles/wars Anglo-Persian War
Indian Mutiny Died April 15, 1914, Suffolk, United Kingdom Battles and wars Anglo-Persian War, Indian Rebellion of 1857 | ||
General Sir George Digby Barker GCB (Chinese Translated Name: 白加) (1833 – 15 April 1914) was a British soldier and colonial administrator.
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Military career
Barker was commissioned into the 78th Regiment of Foot in 1853. He served in Anglo-Persian War of 1856 and in the Indian Mutiny of 1857 and was present at Siege of Lucknow.
He went on to become Adjutant of his Regiment in 1859. He was then made Assistant Adjutant and Quartermaster-General in 1884. Then in 1874 he was made a Professor at the Staff College and in 1877 Assistant Director of Military Education at Headquarters.
He became Commander of British Troops in China and Hong Kong in 1890. He was briefly the acting administrator of Hong Kong between May and December 1891.
He was then appointed Governor of Bermuda in 1896 and retired in 1902.
He was Colonel of the North Staffordshire Regiment from 1905 to 1911 and of the Seaforth Highlanders from 1911 to 1914.
In retirement he lived at Clare Priory in Suffolk.
Honours
Barker Road, where the Residence of the Chief Secretary is located (Victoria House - 15 Barker Road), on The Peak was named after him.
Family
In 1862 he married Frances Isabella Murray and then in 1902 he married Katherine Weston Elwes with whom he had a son and two daughters. One of his daughters, Helena Barker, married Francis Henry May in 1891, who would become Governor of Hong Kong from 1912 to 1919. The Helena May Institute was named after her.