Blue plaque for John Henry Barlow
A blue plaque to the memory of John Henry Barlow will be erected in June
Birmingham City Council will be erecting a blue plaque to the memory of John Henry Barlow on 17 June. John is being commemorated for his contribution to peace, his work with the Friends Ambulance Unit, and as a pioneer of social housing.
He was the first manager of the Bournville Village Trust, which was set up to provide decent housing for industrial workers in Birmingham and to develop the village and its surroundings.
The plaque is being erected on the house that George Cadbury built for the Barlow family, ‘Sunnybrae’, near the Woodbrooke Quaker Study Centre in Birmingham.
Antony Barlow, a grandson of John Henry Barlow, said that the unveiling ceremony at the house on 17 June is to be followed by a reception at Woodbrooke.
Antony adds: ‘June 17 would also have been my mother’s one hundredth birthday, so it makes a happy coincidence.’
John Henry Barlow was clerk of London Yearly Meeting (now Britain Yearly Meeting) between 1913 and 1919 and played an important role in getting a conscientious objection clause included in the Military Service Act of 1916.
