Sir Henry Barber, 1st Baronet

Sir William Henry Barber, 1st Baronet (9 November 1860 – 2 July 1927), known as Henry Barber, was a wealthy solicitor and property developer who made his fortune expanding Birmingham's sprawling suburbs, building and renting out 5,000 properties in areas including Sparkbrook, Hay Mills, Acocks Green, Bordesley Green and Aston.

[1] He was born in Handsworth (then in Staffordshire, now Birmingham), the eldest son of a master jeweller, and grew up in the city's Jewellery Quarter[2] before training as a solicitor.

The couple moved into the eighteenth-century Culham Court on the Thames near Henley in the same year,[4][3] which they rented.

Designed by Thomas Brock it was unveiled on 10 January 1901, twelve days before the death of the Queen.

[6] In the 1924 Prime Minister's Resignation Honours, Barber was created a baronet, of Culham Court in the County of Berkshire, for 'Political Services to Birmingham'.