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John Thomas Barker, a native of Whitby, attended Trinity College, Cambridge and was ordained in 1849. He served in various parishes before becoming Rector of St. Mary's, Rushden in 1868.
During his twenty-two years at Rushden he restored the church at a cost of £6000; provided, at his own expense, an infant school in Coffee Tavern Lane and a mission room and school near the foot of Rushden Hill. He was also largely responsible for the new National School (Church of England) which opened in 1870. His original idea was to have it built on the site of the old Workhouse but this did not come to fruition. Instead it was constructed in High Street South on land given by the Sartoris family. He also built a new Rectory, replacing an older one in Little Street.
| Wellingborough & Kettering News 25/10/1889, transcribed by Peter Brown SERIOUS OUTBREAK OF MEASLES—We regret to state that a most serious epidemic of measles is now prevalent in the town, there being at the present time over a hundred cases, and three or four deaths from this disease were recorded last week. The attendance at the various schools is therefore much affected, it being reported to us that in some instances only half the number on the books were in attendance, and on Thursday morning at the Infant School at the back of the Coffee Tavern only 35 children were in attendance out of 150, this being attributed mainly to the epidemic. |
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