James Barrett (academic)

{{short description|Australian ophthalmologist and academic administrator (1862–1945)}} {{other people|James Barrett}} {{Use dmy dates|date=July 2019}} {{Infobox person |name= Sir James Barrett |image= James Barrett circa 1914.jpg |caption= James Barrett {{circa|1914}} |birth_date= {{Birth date|1862|2|27|df=yes}} |birth_place= South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia |death_date= {{Death date and age|1945|4|6|1862|2|27|df=yes}} }} '''Sir James William Barrett''', {{postnominals|country=AUS|size=100%|sep=,|KBE|CB|CMG}} (27 February 1862<ref name="Birth"/> – 6 April 1945) was an Australian ophthalmologist and academic administrator.

Born in South Melbourne, Victoria, Australia,<ref name="Birth">{{cite web | url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barrett-sir-james-william-64 | title=Biography – Sir James William Barrett – Australian Dictionary of Biography | publisher=Australian Dictionary of Biography | access-date=9 November 2015}}</ref> he was educated at the University of Melbourne and King's College London.<ref>‘BARRETT, Lt-Col Sir James William’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2007</ref>

During World War I he organised a successful open-air hospital in the grounds of Luna Park, Cairo, for military casualties from the Gallipoli landings.<ref> [https://archive.org/details/australianarmyme00barruoft ''The Australian Army Medical Corps in Egypt; an illustrated and detailed account of the early organisation and work of the Australian medical units in Egypt in 1914-1915''] by Barrett, James William; Deane, P. E. London: H.K. Lewis (1918).</ref>

He served as Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne from 1931 to 1934, and then as Chancellor from 1935 to 1939.<ref>{{cite book|url=https://adb.anu.edu.au/biography/barrett-sir-james-william-64|title=Australian Dictionary of Biography|first=S.|last=Murray-Smith|publisher=National Centre of Biography, Australian National University|access-date=29 November 2017|via=Australian Dictionary of Biography}}</ref> He was President of the British Medical Association from 1935 to 1936,<ref>{{cite web|url=http://www.lib.unimelb.edu.au/collections/archives/collections/chancellors/barrett.html|title=Home|date=31 October 2017|website=University of Melbourne Archives|accessdate=29 November 2017}}</ref> and the inaugural president of the Victorian Town Planning and Parks Association, now the Town and Country Planning Association.<ref>{{cite web|title=About the TCPA|url=http://www.tcpa.org.au/|publisher=Town and Country Planning Association|accessdate=2014-10-06}}</ref> He was a notable supporter of Jewish refugee migration to Australia by persons fleeing Nazism.<ref>Rubinstein, Hilary L., 'Sir James Barrett (1862–1945): Australian philosemite', ''Australian Jewish Historical Society Journal'', 12:1, Nov 1993, pp.91–100.</ref>

==Bibliography== * ''[https://archive.org/details/australianarmyme00barruoft The Australian medical corps in Egypt]'' (1918) * ''The twin ideals: An educated Commonwealth'' (1918) * ''The war work of the Y.M.C.A. In Egypt'' (1919) * ''A vision of the possible'' (1919) * ''The diary of an Australian soldier'' (1921) * ''Save Australia'' (1925)

==References== {{Reflist}}

==Further reading== *{{cite book|first=Michael|last=Roe|authorlink=Michael Roe (historian)|title=Nine Australian Progressives: Vitalism in Bourgeois Social Thought 1890–1960|isbn=0702219746|publisher=University of Queensland Press|chapter=James William Barrett: 1862–1945|pages=57-88|year=1984}}

{{s-start}} {{s-aca}} {{s-bef|before = Sir John Monash }} {{s-ttl|title = Vice-Chancellor of the University of Melbourne | years = 1931–1934 }} {{s-aft|after= Sir Raymond Priestley }} {{s-bef|before = Sir John MacFarland }} {{s-ttl|title = Chancellor of the University of Melbourne | years = 1935–1939 }} {{s-aft|after= Sir John Greig Latham<ref>{{cite web | url=http://www.unimelb.edu.au/unisec/calendar/formoffi.html | title=University Secretar's Department : University Calendar-Former Office-Bearers : The University of Melbourne | accessdate=9 November 2015 | url-status=dead | archiveurl=https://web.archive.org/web/20160303123215/http://www.unimelb.edu.au/unisec/calendar/formoffi.html | archivedate=3 March 2016 }}</ref>}} {{s-end}}

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barrett, James William}} Category:1862 births Category:1945 deaths Category:University of Melbourne alumni Category:Alumni of King's College London Category:Australian Army officers Category:Australian military personnel of World War I Category:Vice-chancellors of the University of Melbourne Category:Australian Knights Commander of the Order of the British Empire Category:Australian Companions of the Order of the Bath Category:Australian Companions of the Order of St Michael and St George Category:Presidents of the British Medical Association Category:People from South Melbourne Category:Medical doctors from Melbourne Category:People from the Colony of Victoria Category:Australian ophthalmologists