TOPIC:

Could his son have been Private A. Barr, of the Black Watch, who died of wounds after Magersfontein?



With the desire to avenge the death of his only son, shot by the Boers last year, the Rev. R. E. Barr, of Tacoma (says the “Daily Mail”), will shortly leave for South Africa to join the British Army.
For the past two years he has been rector of the Episcopal Churches at Whatcom and Newhaven, and is well known throughout the North-West.
Mr. Barr’s son was killed in an engagement in which the Boers greatly outnumbered the British, and it is alleged that they behaved with extreme brutality.
Ever since receiving the news Mr. Barr has had a strong desire to go to South Africa to fight, and has sold his property to obtain the funds for his trip.

Cardiff Evening Express, Monday 25th November 1901

Edit - The same item appeared in the Western Gazette, 29.11.1901, also in several American newspapers. The St John's Evening Telegram, Newfoundland, 5th December 1901, reported that he would leave early in December for Egypt and South Africa.

A Rev. R. E. Barr (Clarence branch) was elected as a Chaplain at a meeting of the Provincial Grand Lodge of Freemasons (Province of Durham), held at West Hartlepool, on Tuesday 30th September 1902 (Sunderland Daily Echo, 1.10.1902).

Not A. Barr, Black Watch. He was Harry Baird Barr, of the Canadians.

WHATCOM, Dec. 9. - There are about 400 residents of Whatcom county who were born under the British flag, and a movement has been started to secure their signatures to an address and resolution which will be forwarded to the Right Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, expressing their sympathy with the mother country in the present war. About seventy-five of these British-Americans held an enthusiastic meetin in the city on Thursday evening, drafted the address and resolutions, and took preliminary steps toward organizing a British-American club which they hope to extend to other portions of the state.

The organization will be non-political and only social in character. Rev. I. M. Barr, rector of St. Paul's Episcopal church in Whatcom, is the leader in the movement. He is English by birth, but has resided in the United States for twenty years. He has a son, Dr. Harry Beard Barr, who is in the medical corps of the Canadian contingent now with Lord Methuen in South Africa.

The following resolutions were adopted by a unanimous rising vote Thursday evening:
"Resolved, That this meeting of men born under the British flag, loyal citizens of the United States of America, being assembled in the city of New Whatcom on the 7th day of December, 1899, recognizing the righteousness of England's present struggle with the Boers in South Africa, and further, believing that British supremacy in the land means freedom, civil and religious, and 'open door' for all, do hereby extend our heartfelt sympathy to our kinsmen in their present great struggle, and pray our Heavenly Father that success may crown the arms of the mother country. Be it further
"Resolved, That a copy of this resolution, accompanied by a suitable address, be forwarded to the Right Honourable Joseph Chamberlain, secretary of state for the colonies, through the British ambassador at Washington, humbly praying that this expression of our high regard for Old England, as well as the queen's exalted person, be made known to her gracious majesty."

The following is the address issued by the meeting, and signed by about 100 British-born citizens. Some of them are opposed to the present war, but have, nevertheless, signed the address, since the war is on and cannot now be averted:
"New Whatcom, Wash., U. S. A., Dec. 7.
"To the Rt. Hon. Joseph Chamberlain, Secretary of State for the Colonies, London, England: Right Honorable and Dear Sir - We, the undersigned, born under the British flag, but at present citizens of and residents in the United States of America, beg to assure you, and through you her most gracious majesty, Queen Victoria, and the government of Great Britain, of our deep interest in the great struggle now being waged in South Africa to maintain the supremacy of the English crown and the sacred principles of liberty, civil and religious, as well as equal rights for all, for which the armies of the mother country are now so nobly contending.

"We are firm believers in the righteousness of Britain's cause, and we pray that the God of battles may crown your armies with success, that the cause of true freedom and enduring peace may forever be safeguarded in South Africa. We rejoice in the increasing manifestations of goodwill and sympathy between the land of our adoption and the mother country, the surest pledge of peace and the reign of human brotherhood on earth; and we pray that this friendship of the two great Anglo-Saxon powers may never cease, but be more deeply cemented with the passing years.

We beg you to accept the inclosed [sic] copy of a resolution of sympathy with your government at the present juncture, adopted by a meeting held in this city for that purpose and assented to by us, who have the honor to subscribe ourselves your humble and obedient servants."

The Seattle Post-Intelligencer, Sunday 10th December 1899


"Rev. L. M. Barr, rector of the Episcopal Church at Whatcom, who has also filled the pulpit at St. James Guild, Fairhaven, each Sunday afternoon, has given notice of his retirement from the pulpit. Mr. Barr has bought a ranch of over 120 acres between Everion and Nooksack City, and after May 1st next will devote his energies to agricultural pursuits. He has 60 acres of land under cultivation, good houses and barns, and the purchase price was so low that it is what is called in real estate circles a "snap."

Washington Standard, Friday 30th March 1900

Isaac Montgomery Barr (1847-1937)

tkmorin.wordpress.com/2013/04/10/british...rrive-in-saint-john/

en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Isaac_Barr

Good Morning Bernice...…

Here is your man, a member of Royal Canadian Regiment and died of enteric.....

Mike