Barnet was born on 6 March 1856 in Kensington, which was then in Middlesex.
[1] He had two younger siblings, and their father worked as an East Indian merchant.
[1] He served in the military with the Royal Engineers, rising to the rank of Colonel before retiring in the 1900s.
[1] Barnet played club football for Royal Engineers and Corinthian, and was an FA Cup runner-up in 1877–78.
This biographical article related to association football in England, about a forward born in the 1850s, is a stub.