Early years Barnes was born at
Heavitree, near
Exeter, the youngest of six children of the Reverend Reginald Henry Barnes,
Prebendary of
Exeter Cathedral and Vicar of Heavitree, and his wife, Frances Mary Emily, Nation. Two of his sisters became actresses using the stage names
Violet Vanbrugh and
Irene Vanbrugh. He was educated at
Westminster School and
Christ Church, Oxford,
Academy of Dramatic Art Barnes's sisters Violet and Irene were married to influential actor-managers – respectively
Arthur Bourchier and
Dion Boucicault, Jr. – who were instrumental in securing for Barnes the post of secretary and administrator of what was then called "Mr Tree's Academy of Dramatic Art". The academy, later (from 1920) the
Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, was founded by the actor-manager
Herbert Beerbohm Tree in 1904. It was intended to be a British equivalent of the
Paris Conservatoire, providing what Tree described as the "elementary training which is recognised as useful in every other art and in every other profession". Barnes succeeded him in 1909. and its future looked uncertain. He revived its fortunes by instituting rigorous procedures for auditioning applicants, maximising the income from fees, and establishing student scholarships related to performance. •
Kynaston Reeves In the inter-war years his students included •
John Gielgud •
Kay Hammond •
Cedric Hardwicke •
Celia Johnson •
Charles Laughton •
Vivien Leigh •
Basil Radford •
Flora Robson Students from later in Barnes's tenure included •
Alan Bates •
Albert Finney •
Sheila Hancock •
Glenda Jackson •
Alec McCowen •
Joe Orton •
Peter O'Toole •
Siân Phillips •
Diana Rigg •
Dorothy Tutin Barnes's work at the academy was interrupted by the
First World War, during which he served as an army officer in India and the Middle East. He was
mentioned in dispatches for his work organising morale-boosting entertainments for the soldiers. Barnes raised £78,000, and the Vanbrugh Theatre, named after his sisters, was opened in 1954. He had built up the roll of students from 40 in 1909 to well over 200. On 16 October 1957 Barnes died at his home in
Kingston Gorse, Sussex, aged 79.
The Times said of him: ==References==