[1] He became tutor of his college, was three times moderator in the Sophs' school[clarification needed], and was proctor in 1761.
In 1773 he resigned Fordingbridge for the rectory of Kimpton, Hertfordshire, which he held along with the living of Allhallows, Lombard Street, until his death in November 1792.
Jacob Bryant pays tribute to Barford's "zeal", "assistance" and "judicious remarks" in the preface to the third volume of his New System of Mythology.
In the life of Bryant, prefixed to the six-volume edition of the New System, Barford is put first in the list of his friends.
The list consists of poems on various political events in Latin and Greek, written in his capacity of public orator; a Latin oration at the funeral of William George, provost of King's College, in 1756; and a Concio ad Clerum, 1784, written after his installation as canon of Canterbury.