Kenneth Barnes (director)

Sir Kenneth Barnes
Barnes in 1943
Principal of the Academy (from 1920 Royal Academy) of Dramatic Art
In office 1909–1955
Personal details
Born	Kenneth Ralph Barnes (1878-09-11)11 September 1878 Heavitree, Devon
Died	16 October 1957(1957-10-16) (aged 79) Kingston Gorse, Sussex

Sir Kenneth Ralph Barnes (11 September 1878 – 16 October 1957) was principal of the Academy of Dramatic Art – later the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) – in London, from 1909 to 1955.

Barnes was a son of a West Country vicar; his siblings included the actresses Violet Vanbrugh and Irene Vanbrugh. During his education at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, he became interested in theatre. Over the first decade of the 20th century, he became first a civil servant and then a freelance writer and critic before being appointed to run the academy. His long tenure there was interrupted only by his service in the First World War.

Under Barnes's leadership the academy expanded and flourished, receiving a royal charter in 1920, opening its own theatre in 1921 and, from 1923, awarding degrees under the aegis of the University of London. He was also instrumental in obtaining recognition of acting as a fine art, protecting theatre arts in Britain from taxation. He was knighted in 1938.