Francis Barber

For the Colonel in the Continental Army, see Francis Barber (Colonel). For the actress, see Frances Barber.

Portrait possibly of Barber, attributed either to James Northcote or Sir Joshua Reynolds (see below), 1770s

Francis Barber (c. 1742/3[1] – 13 January 1801),[2] born Quashey, was the Jamaican manservant of Samuel Johnson in London from 1752 until Johnson's death in 1784. Johnson made him his residual heir, with £70 (equivalent to £11,000 in 2023) a year to be given him by trustees, expressing the wish that he move from London to Lichfield, Staffordshire, Johnson's native city. After Johnson's death, Barber did this, opening a draper's shop and marrying a local woman. Barber was also bequeathed Johnson's books and papers, and a gold watch. In later years he had acted as Johnson's assistant in revising his famous Dictionary of the English Language and other works. Barber was also an important source for James Boswell concerning Johnson's life in the years before Boswell himself knew Johnson.[3]

  1. ^ Bundock, Michael. The Fortunes of Francis Barber: The True Story of the Jamaican Slave Who Became Samuel Johnson's Heir, p. 2 (Yale University Press, 2015).
  2. ^ Sutherland, Kathryn (29 July 2015), "Enslaved to Samuel Johnson?", The Times Literary Supplement, retrieved 2 August 2015
  3. ^ Nicholl, Charles (16 July 2015). "Let us breakfast in splendour". The London Review of Books. 37 (14): 21–23. Retrieved 21 July 2015.