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Entry TypePerson
SurnameBarry
ForenamesJuliana Lucy
Also Known AsLady Julia Farnham
Pre TitleLady
Dates1772-1833
Gender IdentityFemale
BiographyIn July 1789, aged only 16, she married John Maxwell, who on inheriting his grandmother's family estate at Newton Barry, County Wexford, Ireland took the family surname of Barry (and later inherited the title of Baron Farnham in 1823). The Annesley family were distant cousins of John Wesley, the founder of Methodism. She grew up to be a woman of strong Evangelical or Calvinistic leanings within the Church of England. In 1818 she gave several religious books to David Buchan's Arctic expedition, which included John Franklin's ship HMS Trent. Although the books were not actually read, John Franklin was introduced to Lady Barry and impressed by her, so he made sure that the books were taken on his first overland Arctic expedition (1819-1822). During the disasterous expedition, in which over half the men taken on lost their lives, the books were said to have been a source of great comfort and inspiration for Franklin and other officers. Franklin himself later admitted that he had not thought about religion as deeply before he went on the expedition. Lady Barry and Franklin began to correspond and meet regularly after his return to England late in 1822. He showed her letters to his fiancee Eleanor Anne Porden, who responded with alarm to Lady Barry's supposedly fanatical views, almost causing the breaking off of their engagement. With Franklin assuring his fiancee that he did not hold the views which had offended her, their marriage took place a few weeks later in 1823. It does not seem that Franklin kept any close contact with Lady Barry after his marriage. In July 1823 she became Lady Farnham on her husband's inheriting the title of Baron Farnham, after which they spent most of their time in Ireland. She went to become one of the leading supporters of Methodist preachers in Ireland.
Key EventsBorn Oct 1772; died 10 Oct 1833
Family Tree4th child and eldest daughter of Anglo-Irish aristocrat Arthur Annesley, Viscount Valentia, and his wife Lucy, daughter of George Lyttelton
Source"Lady Lucy Barry and Evangelical Reading on the First Franklin Expedition", by Janice Cavell, from Arctic Vol. 63 No. 2, June 2010, pages 131-140
Authorised Form of NameBarry; Lady; Juliana Lucy (1772-1833)

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