Liberal MP for St. Austell 1900-1910 and 1915-1918, he was educated at Trinity Hall, Cambridge, gaining an MA and LLB. He was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1897. St. John's WM, St. Austell was restored and enlarged by the family in 1892, and a window in the church commemorates both his grandfather Francis Barratt (1798-1873) whose fortune came from iron mining in Cumberland and his father, also Francis (1831-1881) who had business interests in St. Austell and Plymouth. The 'Leek Seed' chapel at St. Blaizey Gate was renovated in 1904 in memory of his parents. He died at Torquay on 12 September 1933.