Born at Bath, where his father had long been in general practice. His grandfather and youngest brother were also medical practitioners. He entered Charing Cross Hospital in 1849, attending also the adjacent Royal Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital, where he had the advantage of G J Guthrie’s (qv) teaching. Guthrie appreciated his pupil, and for two half-yearly periods he acted as House Surgeon, subsequently becoming a Life Governor of the Institution. Next he was appointed House Surgeon to the Kent County Ophthalmic Hospital, Maidstone. Having to leave on his marriage in 1853, he started practice in Maidstone, then moved to Aylesford. Desiring to practise in London he accepted the post of District Medical Officer for Islington at £40 a year, where although the area was small he was able to develop a practice which brought him in £1000 after one year. The appointment led him to espouse the cause of the Poor Law Medical Officers. He was Hon Secretary of the Poor Law Medical Officers’ Association for twenty years, the office being at 3 Bolt Court, Fleet Street. He laboured to secure a legal superannuation allowance for Poor Law Officers, then a voluntary matter with Boards of Guardians and only occasionally given. His continued exertions in conjunction with his friend, Joseph Rogers, met their reward in the Poor Law Officers’ Superannuation Act of 1896. He received two silver medals from the Medical Society of London for his services in the matter. For a quarter of a century he was Surgeon in the 2nd Middlesex Volunteer Artillery and retired with the rank of Surgeon Lieutenant-Colonel and with the Volunteer decoration. About three years before he died he went to live at Walton-on-the-Naze, but shortly before his death on October 12th, 1899, moved back to London. His son, Dr Raglan W Barnes, followed him in the medical profession, and at the time of his death was serving in South Africa as a Major in the RAMC.