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The Cyclopedia of New Zealand [Wellington Provincial District]

Mr. John Barr

Mr. John Barr, the Foreman of the Painting Department of the Wellington-Manawatu Railway Workshops, was born in Edinburgh in 1846. He was educated in Greenock, and learned his business at the latter city and in Glasgow, completing his term in 1867. Mr. Barr worked at his trade in England and Scotland until 1870, when he went to America. After spending upwards of five years in New York, where he had exceptional opportunities of adding to his knowledge in trade matters, he accepted a position in the workshops of the Delaware, Lackawanna, and Western Railway, and retained it for five-and-a-half years. Returning Mr. John Barr to Great Britain for a short time, Mr. Barr decided upon trying colonial life, and embarked on the s.s. “Arawa,” landing in Wellington in 1886. During the same year he secured employment with the Wellington and Manawatu Railway Company, and was at once placed in the position he now occupies. Mr. Barr takes the greatest interest in his work, and every carriage manufactured, repaired, or re-painted, receives the most careful attention at the hands of the enthusiastic foreman. Mr. Barr lives at the Lower Hutt, and takes great interest in all matters affecting the well-being of the people. He is a prominent Presbyterian, being an elder of Knox Church, Lower Hutt. While resident in Wellington he occupied the same position at St. James' Church, Newtown. In 1866 Mr. Barr was married to Miss Cousin, of Auchinairn. His family includes six, of whom five are girls. The son is in the employ of the Company, under his father, and most of the ornamental work put into the best carriages is done by him. Two of the daughters are married, the eldest to Mr. W. F. Burgess, the well-known draughtsman and artist, of Wellington, who, with his wife, is now enjoying a trip to the Old Country, and the third daughter to Mr. F. E. Tomlinson, the photographer, of Wellington.