John Barry Mercer (1934 –July 1982) was a British archaeologist, author, weaver, and human rights advocate.
Born in Las Palmas, Canary Islands, to British parents, he was educated in Spain and England.
[1] Having qualified as a chartered accountant by the age of 21, he worked for Price Waterhouse in Paris for a couple of years and then dropped out, first to Ibiza and then Menorca.
The John Mercer Human Rights Trust, set up after his death, commemorates this strand of his life.
Mercer's first books were for young people, Lizard Island Expedition and The Cormorant and the Stranger, drawing on his own experiences in the Balearics.