Alfred Barry (1826-1910), Anglican bishop of Sydney and primate of the Church of England in Australia and Tasmania, was educated at King’s College, London and at Cambridge. He worked as a schoolmaster for several years and was headmaster of Leeds Grammar and principal of Cheltenham College before returning to King’s as principal in 1868. He was consecrated Bishop of Sydney at Westminster Abbey in 1884, and took up office in April that year. During his five years in Sydney (interrupted by two long absences) he instituted significant improvements to education in New South Wales, his particular interests being the expansion of St Paul’s College, University of Sydney; the relocation of Moore Theological College to Newtown; improvements to the King’s School at Parramatta; and the establishment of Shore (Sydney Grammar School). Dispirited by the intellectual calibre of the residents of New South Wales, Barry returned to England in 1889.
