Page:Dictionary of National Biography volume 03.djvu/191

Barham  took the degree of M.B. at Cambridge in 1827, qualifying for the higher degree of M.D. in 1860. For a few years he practised at Tavistock, but in August 1837 he settled at Truro, and remained there until his death. In the following year he was appointed senior physician to the Royal Cornwall Infirmary, and when he resigned that post in 1873 was elected consulting physician. On his settlement at Truro Dr. Barham threw himself with energy into its political and civic life, and on 28 Sept. 1839 became more closely identified with the town by his marriage to Caroline, the second daughter of Clement Carlyon, M.D., who belonged to an old Truro family. In all the proceedings of the Royal Institution of Cornwall Dr. Barham took an active part, and to its ‘Reports’ and ‘Journal’ he contributed many articles. He died at Truro on 20 Oct. 1884, leaving a large family behind him.

Though Dr. Barham was interested in antiquarian and geological pursuits generally, the two subjects which had especial charm for him were the climate of Cornwall and the diseases of the miners who contributed to its wealth. The names of many papers written by him on these topics are enumerated in the ‘Bibliotheca Cornubiensis,’ vols. i. and iii. His services were engaged in 1842 by a commission on the employment of children, and his report, with the evidence which he collected, was printed in the first and second reports of the commission.

[Bibl. Cornubiensis; Western Morning News, 22 Oct. 1884.]  BARHAM, CHARLES MIDDLETON,. [See Middleton, Charles (1726-1813) (DNB00).]  BARHAM, FRANCIS FOSTER (1808–1871), the 'Alist,' fifth son of Thomas Foster Barham (1766-1844) [q. v.], by his wife Mary Anne, daughter of the Rev. Mr. Morton, was born 31 May 1808 at Leskinnick, Penzance, Cornwall, where his parents dwelt in independence and retirement. After a preliminary training in 'the grammar school of Penzance, he studied under one of his brothers near Epping Forest, and was then articled for five years (1826-31) to a solicitor at Devonport. In his twenty-third year he was enrolled as an attorney, and settled in London, but ill-health prevented him from pursuing the practice of the law, and he took to writing for literary periodicals. Together with Mr. John Abraham Heraud he was joint editor and proprietor of the 'New Monthly Magazine' from 1 July 1839 to 26 May 1840, when he retired from the editorship, with permission 'to contribute two sheets of matter to each number of the magazine, retaining exclusive property in his own articles.' During the fourteen years of his residence in London, Barham's most extensive literary undertaking was the preparation of a new edition of Jeremy Collier's 'Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain.' The study of oriental languages kindled in him a great love for philology, and his intense spiritual aspirations led him to attempt to found a new form of religion, which he called 'Alism.' He describes it as 'the supreme central doctrine which combines and harmonizes all partial sections of truth in one divine universal system. After very prolonged and arduous researches at last discovered this supreme central doctrine, and gave it the name of Alism, a name derived from A, Al, or Alah, the most ancient and universal title of Deity in the Hebrew scripture. By Alism I therefore mean that eternal divinity, pure and universal, which includes and reconciles all divine truths whatsoever to be found in scripture or nature, in theology, theosophy, philosophy, science, or art.'

Barham founded a society of Alists and also a Syncretic Society. He likewise attached himself to an æsthetic society which met at the house of the eminent mystic, James Greaves.

In 1844 he married Gertrude Foster, daughter of the Rev. Thomas Grinfield, of Clifton, rector of Shirland, Derbyshire, and went to live at Clifton. During his ten years' residence there, his time was principally occupied in preparing a revised version of the Old and New Testaments. He resided at Bath from 1854 until his death, which occurred in that city 9 Feb. 1871.

His numerous printed works include: 1. 'The Adamus Exul of Grotius, or the Prototype of Paradise Lost. Now first translated from the Latin,' Lond. 1839, 8vo. This poem is said to be the prototype of Milton's 'Paradise Lost.' 2. 'The Ecclesiastical History of Great Britain. By Jeremy Collier. New edition, with a life of the author, the controversial tracts connected with the history, notes, and an enlarged index,' 9 vols., Lond. 1840, 8vo. 3. 'The Alist or Divine, a message to our times,' Lond. (1840) 8vo; three parts published at 6d. each. 4. 'The Political Works of Cicero. Translated from the original with dissertations and notes,' 2 vols., Lond. 1841-42, 8vo. 5. 'Socrates. A Tragedy in five acts' (and in verse), Lond. 1842, 8vo. 6. 'The Life and Times of John Reuchlin or Capnion, the father of the German Reformation,' Lond. 1843, 12mo. 7. 'The Foster Barham Genealogy,' Lond. 1844, 8vo, privately printed. 8. 'Prospect us. The Alist,