Barry was born in Glasgow and moved to London in 1864 to work as a journalist at The Standard, where he reported on parliamentary and labour matters.

[1] In 1871, Barry was appointed as Provisional Chairman of the International Working Men's Association but, after a year, he was compelled to leave the organisation for being too moderate and labelled a possible spy.

[1] At the 1880 general election, Barry unsuccessfully sought the Conservative nomination in Dundee, where he acclaimed the Tory's support for the Factory Acts and also the party's imperial policy.

[3] The Conservative Central Office gave Barry £340 to pass to H. M. Hyndman of the Social Democratic Federation (SDF) in order to fund two of its candidates in the 1885 general election, in the hope that they would defeat Liberal Party MPs.

[1] At the 1892 general election, he stood unsuccessfully as the Conservative candidate in Banffshire, then Morpeth in 1895 and 1900 and North Aberdeen in 1906.