In 1762 he was at Eton as tutor to Henry Townshend, brother to Lord Sydney, and he also became tutor to George Hardinge, afterwards Welsh justice, whose recollections of Barnard are given at length in Nichols's Anecdotes (viii.
"[4] Other sources online claim the flogging was on account of his louche appearance on returning from France.
Barnard, according to Hardinge, was a man of coarse features and clumsy figure, but with a humour and vivacity which, but for his physical disadvantages, would have made him the equal of Garrick; and he ruled his boys chiefly by force of ridicule.
Upon Barnard's death Johnson, according to Mrs Piozzi, pronounced a long eulogium upon his wit, learning, and goodness, and added: "He was the only man that did justice to my good breeding, and you may observe that I am well bred to a needless degree of scrupulosity."
He is not to be confused with Thomas Barnard, the bishop of Killaloe and Limerick, who was also a friend of Johnson.