Henry Albert ‘Bertie’ Barclay was born on 19 April 1858, the third son of the banker and astronomer, Joseph Gurney Barclay of Knotts Green, Leyton and The Warren, Cromer, Norfolk. His mother was Margaret Exton. The Barclay family were Quakers. He went to Trinity Hall, Cambridge and matriculated in 1877. Henry was commissioned into the Hampshire Yeomanry as a 2nd Lieutenant on 8 June 1889. He was a lieutenant on 8 July 1891, captain on 5 Mar 1892 and major on 10 March 1897. He was ADC to Lord Belhaven and Stenton, commanding Surrey Brigade of Volunteer Infantry (1898)
In 1901 he raised and commanded the Norfolk Yeomanry, his commission dated 24 May 1901. He retired in 1913. He was ADC to King Edward VII from 1906 to 1910 and George V until 1925. He was also Deputy Lieutenant and JP for Norfolk. He was Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) and Commander of the Order of St Olav of Norway (King Haakon of Norway was Honorary Colonel of the King’s Own Royal Norfolk Yeomanry)
He married Marion Louisa Hoare on 21 April 1881 and lived at Hanworth Hall, Norfolk. They had two sons and two daughters. Their eldest son, born in 1882 was the Reverend Humphrey Barclay who was Chaplain to King George VI and Queen Elizabeth. But Marion died in 1938 and Bertie married again, to Mrs Isobelle Antoinette Hawkins. He died on 19 August 1947. The photo, taken in 1891, shows H.A.B. as a young lieutenant wearing the blue and silver-laced stable dress of the Hampshire Yeomanry.
