Biography

South African pioneer and second son of Mary Elizabeth Barber, born near Grahamstown, Cape Province. His plant and insect collections were made while hunting and prospecting in the Kalahari, Matabeleland, and Transvaal. In June 1884, he discovered payable gold with his brother Fred and cousin Graham on state-owned land in a rift of the Ingudu Mountains. The gold inspector sent to investigate their claim christened it with a bottle of gin, and named the surrounding area Barberton. The Barbers, however, sold up and left on their journeys when the ensuing rush of prospectors caused the value of gold to drop. Before finally settling in Kenya in 1912, Henry Barber lived for a short time with his parents in Johannesburg in 1886, and returned for a few years to the Eastern Cape in 1896, and from 1906 until 1912 had a farm in Potchefstroom.