Sir Thomas Barlow, 3rd Baronet

Sir Thomas Barlow, 3rd Baronet
Sir Thomas Barlow, 3rd Baronet
Born	23 January 1914
Died	12 October 2003 (aged 89)
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	Royal Navy
Years of service	1935–1964
Rank	Commodore
Commands held	HMNB Devonport (1962–64); HMS Supreme (1944–45); HMS Unison (1943); HMS United (1942); HMS L23 (1941–42)
Battles/wars	Second World War
Awards	Distinguished Service Cross

Commodore Sir Thomas Erasmus Barlow, 3rd Baronet DSC, DL (23 January 1914 – 12 October 2003) was an officer in the Royal Navy.

Biography[edit]

Barlow was the eldest son of the Sir Alan Barlow, 2nd Bt, and his wife Nora Darwin. His younger brother was the visual neuroscientist Horace Barlow. His maternal grandfather was Horace Darwin, and amongst his great-grandfathers were the naturalist Charles Darwin, the statistician and civil servant Thomas Farrer, 1st Baron Farrer, and the royal physician Sir Thomas Barlow.

After being educated at Winchester College, Barlow entered the Royal Navy in 1932 as a Cadet. He qualified on submarines in 1937 and during the Second World War served aboard submarines in the Atlantic, Mediterranean, Indian Ocean and Far East. His commands were:

HMS L23 (13 Aug 1941 – 10 Jan 1942)
HMS United (11 Jan 1942 – 7 Dec 1942)
HMS Unison (20 Aug 1943 – 30 Nov 1943)
HMS Supreme (15 Mar 1944 – Oct 1945)^[1]

In 1945 he was awarded the Distinguished Service Cross. He was promoted to commander in 1950 and captain in 1954, and was commodore of HMNB Devonport between 1962 and his retirement in 1964.

He married Isabel Body (1915–2005), daughter of the medical doctor Thomas Munn Body, on 9 July 1955 and they had four children:

Sir James Alan Barlow, 4th Baronet (born 10 July 1956)
Dr. Monica Anne Barlow (born 7 March 1958)
Philip Thomas Barlow (born 31 December 1960)
Teresa Mary Barlow (born 6 October 1963)

Barlow succeeded to the title of 3rd Baronet Barlow, of Wimpole Street, London on 28 February 1968, after the death of his father. He was appointed a Deputy Lieutenant of Buckinghamshire in 1976.

Barlow was also a conservationist and was a trustee of the Galapagos Conservation Trust.

Barlow was also a trustee for over 20 years of the Barlow Collection of Oriental art collected by his father. In 1997 Sir Thomas, along with his brother Erasmus Barlow were both awarded honorary Doctors of Letters degrees by the University of Sussex, who were bequeathed the Barlow Collection in 1968 on the death of Sir Alan^[2]