Alan Barlow

{{Short description|British art collector and civil servant}} {{Use dmy dates|date=August 2019}} {{Infobox officeholder | name = Alan Barlow | honorific_prefix = Sir | honorific_suffix = Bt | image = File:Sir_James_Alan_Noel_Barlow_2nd_Baronet.jpg | caption = Sir Alan Barlow, 2nd Baronet in 1938 | office = Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister | term_start = 1933 | term_end = 1934 | prime_minister = Ramsay MacDonald | predecessor = Sir Patrick Duff | successor = Sir Harold Vincent | alongside = | birth_name = James Alan Noel Barlow | birth_date = {{Birth date|df=y|1881|12|25}} | birth_place = London, England | death_date = {{Death date and age|df=y|1968|02|28|1881|12|25}} | death_place = | other_names = | education = Marlborough College | alma_mater = Corpus Christi College, Oxford | occupation = Civil servant | years_active = | known_for = | parents = Sir Thomas Barlow (Father) | spouse = {{marriage|Nora Barlow (nee Darwin)|1911|}} | children = 6 | awards = CBE (1918) CB (1928) KBE (1938) KCB (1942) GCB (1947) }}

'''Sir James Alan Noel Barlow, 2nd Baronet''' {{postnominals|country=GBR|GCB|KBE|FSA}} (25 December 1881 – 28 February 1968) was a British civil servant and collector of Islamic and Chinese art. He was Principal Private Secretary to Ramsay MacDonald, 1933–1934, and later Under-secretary at HM Treasury.<ref name ="ODNB2004">BARLOW, Sir (James) Alan (Noel)’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 [http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U50332, accessed 26 May 2011]</ref>

==Personal life and education==

Barlow was born in London, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Barlow, 1st Baronet, Royal physician, and his wife Ada Dalmahoy. He attended Marlborough College and Corpus Christi College, Oxford, graduating with a first class degree in ''literae humaniores'' in 1904.

In 1911 Barlow and Nora Darwin, the daughter of Horace Darwin and grand-daughter of Charles Darwin (see Darwin — Wedgwood family) were married. They had six children:

* Joan Helen Barlow (26 May 1912 – 21 February 1954). * Sir Thomas Erasmus Barlow, 3rd Baronet (23 January 1914 – 12 October 2003), naval officer. * Erasmus Darwin Barlow (15 April 1915 – 2 August 2005). * Andrew Dalmahoy Barlow (16 September 1916 – 2006), son: Martin T. Barlow, mathematician. * Hilda Horatia Barlow (14 September 1919 – 1 February 2017) husband: John Hunter Padel, psychoanalyst; daughter: Ruth Padel, poet. * Horace Basil Barlow (8 December 1921 – 5 July 2020).

He was a member of the Savile and Athenaeum clubs in London where he was able to meet political contacts during his career. He started collecting Islamic pottery and Chinese ceramics as a child and later donated pieces to museums and the University of Sussex. He was also a bibliophile and interested in archaeology. From 1948 until 1955 he was a trustee of the National Gallery, and its chair from 1949 – 1951. He was also a president of the Oriental Ceramic Society from 1943 – 1964.<ref name ="ODNB2004" />

==Career== He began a career as a civil servant as a clerk in the House of Commons in 1906. He was then chosen as a junior examiner in the Board of Education and in 1914 became private secretary to the parliamentary secretary. The First World War altered the direction of his career since in 1915 he was moved to the Ministry of Munitions to be private secretary to Christopher Addison, who became the Minister. In 1917 he was promoted to be deputy controller of labour supply and in 1918 became controller of the labour department. When the war ended he was in charge of demobilization and training in the new Ministry of Labour.<ref name ="ODNB2004" /> In 1924 he was promoted to principal assistant secretary in charge of the industrial relations department of the Ministry. His role focused on training after 1929 and the establishment of government training centres, although there remained a lack of training by industry.<ref name ="ODNB2004" />

In 1933 he was appointed as the principal private secretary to Ramsay MacDonald, the prime minister. However, the two men were not suited to each other and in 1934 Barlow was transferred to the Treasury where he remained, rising to a senior position and being a member of several committees that together were concerned with the machinery of government. It has been considered that he made creative changes that improved the civil service. However he did not lead on changes needed as the government intervened more in economic and social policy from the late 1940s onwards.<ref name="Chapman & Greenaway">{{cite book |last1=Chapman |first1=R A |last2=Greenaway |first2=J R |title=The dynamics of administrative reform |date=1980 |publisher=Croom Helm |isbn=0-85664-107-3 |pages=249}}</ref>{{rp|217}} He was in favour of education expenditure, especially in technical and scientific areas. He chaired a committee in 1945 - 1946 that recommended foundation of a new technological university and increasing the number of science graduates, but it was not implemented.<ref name="Cmd 6824">{{cite journal |title=The Barlow Report: Scientific man-power |journal=Parliamentary Paper |date=1946 |volume=Cmd 6824 |pages=68 |url=http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/barlow1946/barlow1946.html |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20171105150154/http://www.educationengland.org.uk/documents/barlow1946/barlow1946.html |url-status=dead |archive-date=5 November 2017 |access-date=15 January 2022}}</ref> He retired in 1948 but continued to be a member of the Advisory Council on Scientific Policy.<ref name ="ODNB2004" />

Barlow was a knight three times over; a baronet and a knight of both the Order of the Bath and the Order of the British Empire:<ref name ="ODNB2004" /> *1918 New Year Honours awarded CBE<ref>{{Cite web|title=Page 368 {{!}} Supplement 30460, 4 January 1918 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/30460/supplement/368|access-date=2022-02-14|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> *1928 New Year Honours awarded CB<ref>{{Cite web|title=Page 4 {{!}} Supplement 33343, 30 December 1927 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33343/supplement/4|access-date=2022-02-14|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> *The King's Birthday Honours 1938 awarded KBE<ref>{{Cite web|title=Page 3697 {{!}} Supplement 34518, 7 June 1938 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/34518/supplement/3697|access-date=2022-02-14|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> *The King's Birthday Honours 1942 awarded KCB<ref>{{Cite web|title=Page 2478 {{!}} Issue 35586, 5 June 1942 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/35586/page/2478|access-date=2022-02-14|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref> *1947 New Year Honours awarded GCB<ref>{{Cite web|title=Page 4 {{!}} Supplement 37835, 31 December 1946 {{!}} London Gazette {{!}} The Gazette|url=https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/37835/supplement/4|access-date=2022-02-14|website=www.thegazette.co.uk}}</ref>

== References == <references/>

== External links == * http://www.barlowgenealogy.com/england/royalty/SirAlan.htm {{Webarchive|url=https://web.archive.org/web/20060327150412/http://www.barlowgenealogy.com/england/royalty/SirAlan.htm |date=27 March 2006 }} * [https://web.archive.org/web/20060614215736/http://www.sussex.ac.uk/arthistory/1-4-5.html THE BARLOW COLLECTION - Art History] - University of Sussex

{{s-start}} {{s-reg|uk-bt}} {{succession box | title=Baronet '''(of Wimpole Street)''' | years=1945–1968 | before=Thomas Barlow | after=Thomas Erasmus Barlow}}

{{s-gov}} {{s-bef|before=Sir Patrick Duff}} {{s-ttl|title=Principal Private Secretary to the Prime Minister|years=1933–1934}} {{s-aft|after=Sir Harold Vincent}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barlow, Alan}} Category:Art collectors from London Category:1881 births Category:1968 deaths Category:Knights Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath 302 Category:Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Category:Principal private secretaries to the prime minister Category:Civil servants from London Category:People educated at Marlborough College Category:Alumni of Corpus Christi College, Oxford