Gorell Barnes was born to Henry Gorell Barnes (1939-1983), merchant banker and a director of Morgan Grenfell, and Gillian (
née Carruthers), a family therapist at the
Tavistock Clinic. His maternal grandmother was film editor
Lito Carruthers. His paternal grandfather was Sir William Lethbridge Gorell Barnes (1909-1987), a
War Cabinet official later of the
Treasury and
Colonial Office (where he was
Deputy Under Secretary of State from 1959 to 1963), and who had been Personal Assistant to Prime Minister
Clement Attlee from 1946 to 1948. His paternal great-grandfather was Sir Frederic Gorell Barnes (1856-1939), M.P. for
Faversham, Kent from 1895-1900, Assistant Food Commissioner and Commissioner of the Education and Propaganda Branch of the
Ministry of Food from 1918 to 1921. The Gorell Barnes family were of Ashgate House,
Ashgate, Derbyshire, with the
Barons Gorell descending from Henry, elder brother of Chris Gorell Barnes's ancestor Charles (1818-1886; of Mossley Hill, Lancashire, J.P., a merchant). The politician and colliery owner
Alfred Barnes was the youngest brother of Henry and Charles. Gorell Barnes was raised in
Maida Vale, and studied at
Bedales and the
European Business School at
Regent's University London. ==Career==