Collection

Letters of appreciation, etc, 1904-1931; letters to Barrett about his career as a representative of William Brown and Company of Liverpool Limited, 1915-1923; letters about Barrett's work for the Labour Party in Devon,1924-1944; records concerning the Leicester by-election of 1913, 1913-1915; correspondence about Barrett's work for the National Union of Agricultural Workers (NUAW), 1930-1944; Records concerning Barrett's imprisonment as a conscientious objector in World War I, [?1901]-1918; correspondence and papers concering reformed spelling, 1917-1919, 1940-1949; records concerning the Sunderland water supply, 1922; records concerning tithes, 1923-1935; general correspondence and papers, 1926-1949; cartoons, 1901-1910; press cuttings and other records concerning the 'Bedfordshire Mercury', 1911-1912; press cuttings concerning Barrett's activities in local politics whilst living at Rockvale, Stoke Fleming, Dartmouth, 1924-1949; notes on furniture history, 1905-1907; Press cuttings and other records concerning the 'Leicester Pioneer', 1913-1950; literary records, 1907 and nd; obituaries, 1950; poetry, 1905-1928; Ruskin Hall (later Ruskin College) essays and notes by Barrett., 1904-1911; 'Men of Mark', the unpublished life and letters of Barrett, and related records, 1913-1949.

4 boxes

Rowland Barrett began his working life as an upholsterer, but took up journalism in 1908, as editor of the 'Coventry Sentinel'. From 1915 to 1923 he was a commercial representative in the north east; in the latter year he purchased a small-holding near Dartmouth, which he ran as a holiday camp for socialists. Converted to socialism in 1894, he was a lifelong campaigner and during his later years he was active on behalf of the National Union of Agricultural Workers (NUAW) and the Labour Party, in Devon and elsewhere. Reference: entry on Barrett by Richard Storey, 'Dictionary of Labour Biography', Vol.4 (London, 1977).

Open

The Coventry and Warwickshire Collection in Coventry Central Library includes a volume of annotated 'Coventry Sentinel' and 'Midland Counties Tribune' cuttings, with a small group of letters (JN 335). The letters mostly relate to the charge of obstruction against Barrett in August 1909 for holding Independent Labour Party meetings in Nuneaton market place.