Charles Barrie, 1st Baron Abertay

This article is about the British politician. For the British art administrator, Charles David Ogilvy Barrie, see David Ogilvy Barrie.

Charles Barrie

Charles Coupar Barrie, 1st Baron Abertay, KBE, JP, DL (1875 – 6 December 1940) was a businessman and Liberal Party and later Liberal National politician in the United Kingdom.

Background and education

The eldest son of Sir Charles Barrie, he was educated at the High School of Dundee and Blairlodge School, Polmont.

Political career

Barrie served during the First World War in an advisory capacity at the Transport Department of the Admiralty, and latterly in the Ministry of Shipping. He was the Minister of Munitions representative in Paris during the Peace Conference, and was a Member of the Supreme Economic Council. He also served as Chairman of the Navy, Army, and Air Force Institutes and as a Member of the Advisory Council to the General Post Office. He was Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Elgin Burghs briefly during 1918, for Banffshire from 1918–1924 and later sat for Southampton from 1931-1940 as a Liberal National.

Barrie was appointed a CBE in 1918 and a KBE in 1921. In June 1940 he was raised to the peerage as Baron Abertay, of Tullybelton in the County of Perth, which title became extinct on his death in December that year. He also held the Russian Order of St Stanislaus and the Danish Order of the Dannebrog.

Business career

Barrie was also a shipowner and merchant, and held a number of business appointments including as a Director of the London and North Eastern Railway, of the Central Argentine Railway, of the Mercantile Bank of India, of Phoenix Assurance Company, and of Cable and Wireless Ltd.

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Charles Barrie