Dr Robert Barnes
Dr Robert Barnes was an early Medical Officer of the Prudential and director from 1848 to 1849 and again from 1884 until his death in 1907. He was a pioneer in the field of gynaecology and obstetrics as well as physician to the London Hospital from 1859. ‘One of the most learned and skilful practitioners in the special department of Medical Science to which he had devoted the best years of his life’ – Ibis (Prudential clerks) Magazine, 1907.
Born at Norwich in 1817, Dr Robert Barnes was the second son of Philip Barnes (architect and founder of the Royal Botanic Society in London). He was apprenticed to a local surgeon at the age of fifteen and then studied medicine at University College London. After becoming a member of the Royal College of Surgeons of England in 1842, he spent a year in Paris before settling into general practice in Notting Hill. He later became obstetric physician to the London Hospital, and following this, to St Thomas’s Hospital in 1862 and St George’s Hospital in 1874.
He was probably introduced to Prudential by his colleague Dr Patrick Fraser. After serving as a director for a year he stood down but continued being the company’s Medical Officer for a period of 35 years, advising on the quality of lives assured.
Subsequently, he rejoined the Prudential Board on his retirement from the Medical Officer position in 1884. His son, Dr Fancourt Barnes, also became a director in the same year. While at the company Dr Robert Barnes also contributed periodic articles on travel and poetry to the Ibis Magazine. He regularly donated funds to medical institutions, particularly St. George’s Hospital, London.
Dr Barnes was an energetic man and was still mentally and physically active in his eighties, seldom missing a daily swim in the sea at Eastbourne (he settled there following his retirement).
With Dr Barnes death in 1907, one of the last direct links with the company’s earliest years was broken.
