BARKER, Fred(erick) Grant 1936-2025

[Richard R]

From the Telegraph of 9 June 2025: BARKER Fred, 13/11/1936 - 2/6/2025. Died peacefully at home. Darling husband to Penny, much loved father to Grant, Samantha, George, Camilla and Miranda. Uniquely special stepfather to Sophie, Emily and Arabella. Daddy Fred to Ilona. Grandfather to Fred, Arthur, Alfred, Atalanta, Marcus, Enzo and River. Funeral at Holy Trinity Church, Minchinhampton… on Monday 7th July at 11.30 a.m.

He m 1^st 1962 reg Q4 London (div) as her 1^st h Venetia Margaret b 1942 (Dowager Viscountess Wimborne) d of Richard Bridges St John QUARRY 1912-2002 and as her 1^st h Diana Elizabeth 1917-99 (Diana, Baroness Mancroft) d of Lt-Col Horace LLOYD DSO 1882- by his 1913 m to as her 2^nd h Margaret Jessica GODDARD 1888-1941 (widow of John Aldridge DSO d 1909 – BLG1937), and had two sons and two daus.

1. Grant St John b 1963: m with issue

2. George

1. Samantha Nancy Diana b 1966: m 1996 as his 2^nd w Guy Dominic b 1960 s of Brian Maurice THORNTON b 1937 (gs of 2^nd Viscount ESHER GCB GCVO PC 1852-1930) and Verity d of Guy Gordon LAWRENCE of Little Easton Manor, Dunmow, Essex, and had issue

1.1 Marcus b 2000

1.1 Atalanta b 1998

2. Camilla

[S R Eglesfield]

Grant St John BARKER was married, firstly, in 1998, to Vanessa Barbara Mary JOHN (born 1965), by whom he had two sons, Frederick Christopher John ("Fred") BARKER (birth registered Q1 1999 - Westminster) and Arthur William Edgar BARKER (birth registered Q4 2003 - Westminster). He married, secondly, on 16 September 2014, the interior designer Sarah Jane VANRENEN (born VII 1970), by whom he has one son, Alfred ("Alfie") BARKER (born c.2020 - I have been unable to positively identify a birth record for him).

 

Mrs Sarah Barker would appear to be a daughter of David John Deneys VANRENEN (born 28 VI 1944), who is of Australian nationality, and his first wife, Penelope Ann ("Penny") MacKENZIE (born I 1947, who is also an interior designer, as Penny Morrison, and was married secondly, in 1988, to (as his second wife) Guy Martin James MORRISON, born XI 1957). For more information on Guy Morrison's ancestry and his first marriage to the Hon Charlotte Anne MONCKTON-ARUNDELL, see https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/FGqtzPcj5kk/m/FFe66uGDBgAJ. The engagement of his son from his second marriage is noted in the posting at https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/7gUKU4lNbms/m/sqpWprNTBAAJ.

 

See postings at https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/sS-6lm__mEs/m/CfkMNQ7hBQAJ and https://groups.google.com/g/peerage-news/c/GUb4syDHXoA/m/sF_dFeA7AgAJ for the news of the deaths of Brian Maurice THORNTON and his wife, née Verity Gladys LAWRENCE, whose parents were Guy Gordon LAWRENCE and his wife, Rhoda Evelyn PAYNE, who was herself the daughter of Meyrick Whitmore PAYNE (10 V 1885 - 2 VI 1963) and his wife (married 1907), Charlotte Evelyn NIXON (30 VII 1878 - 21 VIII 1951), of that family of Fermanagh and Cavan, which, per Burke's Family Index, last appeared in Burke's Landed Gentry in the 1875 edition.

 

Charlotte Evelyn Nixon was the eldest sister of Gladys Elizabeth NIXON (14 VIII 1879 - 20 III 1960), who was the wife (married 10 XI 1903) of the 2nd and last Baron Stalbridge (son of the 1st Baron, whose eldest surviving brother was the 1st Duke of Westminster). They were daughters of Brinsley de Courcy NIXON (5 V 1825 - 18 IV 1903) and his second wife, Suzanna Frances Evelyn HAMPTON (13 IV 1849 - 2 VII 1891).

 

I presume that the late Capt Barker's younger son, George Edgar BARKER (born 1969), and two youngest daughters, Camilla Fredericka BARKER (born c.1975/6) and Miranda Jane BARKER (born 1979), may be unmarried, as I cannot find any records of marriages for them. Of the grandchildren, I have not been able to identify Enzo and River, although it may be that Enzo is the Enzo Grant BARKER whose birth was registered in Q2 2021 in Kensington and Chelsea, mother's maiden surname Barker.

 

The late Capt Barker's second wife, née Penelope ("Penny") WALKER (born 16 IV 1943), is the second daughter of Capt John Alexander Ormond WALKER (1915 - 31 XII 1990) and his wife (married 22 IV 1939), Bridget HORNUNG (7 I 1918 - 14 XI 2007), of that landed gentry family. Capt Walker was the only son of George Arthur WALKER (c.1867 - ?) and his wife (married 2 XII 1914, as her first husband), Katherine Selby ("Kitty") ORMOND (1 IV 1894 - 16 I 1977), who was married secondly in 1925 to (as his first wife) Cecil Harry Andrew BENNETT, CBE, QC (14 III 1898 - 19 IX 1967) and thirdly in 1941 to Geoffrey Parke PITTAR (14 X 1898 - 22 VII 1957).

 

Geoffrey Pittar's paternal grandmother, née Rosalie Vale MAYHEW (8 IX 1814 - 9 IV 1889), was the eldest sister of Alfred MAYHEW (27 VI 1810 - 14 VIII 1865), the great-grandfather of Patrick Barnabas Burke MAYHEW, the Life Peer Baron Mayhew of Twysden (11 IX 1929 - 25 VI 2016), Secretary of State for Northern Ireland, 1992-97 and Attorney General, 1987-92. Alfred and Rosalie Mayhew were siblings of Henry MAYHEW (25 XI 1812 - 25 VII 1887), the journalist and social researcher best known for his work London Labour and the London Poor (1851).

 

Mrs Penny Barker, née Walker, was married, firstly (registered Q1 1965 - Horsham), to (as his first wife, divorced 1983) Anthony Ernest OPPENHEIMER (born VI 1937), by whom she had the three daughters mentioned in their stepfather's death notice:

• Sophie Clare OPPENHEIMER (born X 1965), who is the wife (married 1996) of Stephen Christopher LUSSIER (born 18 XII 1957). They would appear to have three sons (births all registered in Westminster, mother's maiden name Oppenheimer): Louis Jake LUSSIER (Q2 1997), Dylan Philip LUSSIER (Q4 1999) and Sam Atticus Luca LUSSIER (Q4 2003).
• Emily Victoria OPPENHEIMER (born VIII 1968), the former wife (married c.2000, divorced c.2013) of William James ("Will") TURNER. Their son is Theodore Joshua Oscar ("Theo") TURNER (birth registered Q1 2003 - Westminster).
• Arabella Elizabeth OPPENHEIMER (born III 1972), who was married in 1996 to (Lawrence) Hugo Mayo MORRIS (born 18 VIII 1970).

Anthony OPPENHEIMER was married secondly, in 1989, to (as her second husband) Mrs Antoinette Maria LUCAS, née VON WESTENHOLZ (born IX 1947), of that German noble family, whose first husband was a great-grandson of Sir Thomas Charles Delight Hughes LUCAS, 1st Bt (18 VII 1822 - 6 III 1902).