Samuel Barber was the son of Francis Barber (1742/3-1801) and Elizabeth Barber nee Ball (1756-1816). His father was born into slavery in Jamaica and given the name Quashey. He was brought to England in 1750, baptised, and given the name Francis Barber. He was later sent by the Bathurst family to work as valet to Dr Samuel Johnson (1709-1784). Francis married Elizabeth Ball in 1776 and Samuel was their youngest surviving child. The family lived with Dr Johnson until he died and Samuel attended a boarding-school in Lichfield. In 1799 he became a servant of Gregory Hickman (1766-1816) a Burslem surgeon, and in 1802 he married Eleanor Tunstall; there were no children from the marriage. After Dr Hickman's death Samuel became an apprentice potter’s printer for the master potter Enoch Wood.

Despite initial hostility to Methodism and Dissent, Samuel was caught up in the Methodist revival in Burslem in 1805 and 1806 and was converted. On 11 September 1810 he met and had meaningful conversation with William Clowes (1780-1851) and when Clowes was expelled by the Wesleyans, Samuel was an early member of Clowes' Burslem Class meeting. He remained a member in the Burslem Wesleyan Society, where he met Frances (Fanny) Sherwin (1786-) a Sunday school teacher. They married in 1811 and had six children. By November 1815 Samuel was a ??? on trial on the Primitive Methodist Plan. He was appointed the first Secretary of the Religious Tract Visiting Society in April 1818. He died at Tunstall on 6 July 1828, having served as a Local Preacher for 17 years. In October 2021 the Staffordshire libraries hosted the animated film 'Tunstall', produced by Jason Young, the story of Samuel Barber, the first Black British preacher in Primitive Methodism.

Entry written by: DHR
Category: Person
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