Alfred Barker (doctor)
Alfred Barker | |
|---|---|
 | |
| Born | Alfred Charles Barker 5 January 1819 |
| Died | 20 March 1873 (aged 54) Christchurch, New Zealand |
| Other names | Syphax |
| Occupations | Doctor, Photographer |
| Relatives | Esther Hope (granddaughter) |
Alfred Charles Barker (1819–1873) was a New Zealand medical doctor and photographer.
Barker was born on 5 January 1819 at Hackney, London in England. Barker was the fifth child of Joseph Gibbs Barker and Sarah Pritchett Bousfield. He studied medicine at King's College, London.[1][2] He and his wife Emma (née Bacon) arrived at Lyttelton on the Charlotte Jane on 16 December 1850 and settled in Christchurch, where they had five children.[1]
He was registrar of Births, Deaths and Marriages in Christchurch from 1854 until 1866 although he had given up his medical practice by 1859 as a result of a horse riding injury.[2][3] His medical practice was sufficiently lucrative to allow him to retire from medicine at the age of 39.[3] He owned a sheep station at Lake Coleridge and was a photographer, artist, architect, amateur geologist and botanist.[2]
He established himself as a prominent photographer in Christchurch documenting life in the city and its citizens.[3]
Barker died on 20 March 1873 and was buried in the Barbadoes Street Cemetery.[4]
Barker's photos are held in the Canterbury Museum.[3][5]
References
- ^ a b Turner, John B. "Alfred Charles Barker". Dictionary of New Zealand Biography. Ministry for Culture and Heritage. Retrieved 16 September 2012.
- ^ a b c Wright St Claire, Rex (2013). Historia nunc vivat : medical practitioners in New Zealand, 1840 to 1930 (PDF). Christchurch: Cotter Medical History Trust. p. 45. ISBN 9780473240738.
- ^ a b c d Knight, Hardwicke (1971). Photography in New Zealand. Dunedin: John McIndoe. pp. 13–14, 23–32.
- ^ "Dr Alfred Charles Barker, photographer, 1819–1873". Christchurch City Libraries. Retrieved 27 April 2013.
- ^ "Alfred Charles Barker". Canterbury Museum. Retrieved 26 August 2025.
