He entered Trinity College, Cambridge, as a scholar in 1807, and in 1809 won the Browne medal for Greek and Latin epigrams.
However, he left the university without a degree, being prevented by religious scruples from taking the Oath of Supremacy then required.
[1] After acting as amanuensis to Samuel Parr, vicar of Hatton, Warwickshire, he married and settled down at Thetford in Norfolk, where he lived for about twenty-five years.
The work was undertaken by Abraham John Valpy, and, although not publicly stated, it was understood that Barker was the responsible editor.
When a few parts had appeared, it was criticized in the Quarterly Review (xxii., 1820) by Edward Valentine Blomfield; the original plan of the work was then curtailed, and Barker's name was not used.
[2] The editio princeps (1820) of Περὶ τόνων, the treatise on prosody sometimes attributed to Arcadius of Antioch, was published by Barker from a Paris manuscript.