BARNE, Michael (1759-1837), of Sotterley Hall, Suff.

Barne’s brothers had done their best, not always successfully,PRO 30/8/111, f. 329. to further his promotion in the army through their contacts with government circles. After his retirement they gained him a lieutenant-colonelcy in the yeoman volunteers which satisfied his military inclinations.E. Suff. RO, Barne coll. 359/109, S. to M. Barne, 23 Sept. 1809. He entered Parliament, somewhat reluctantly, in succession to his brother Snowdon in 1812.Ibid. 359/70. He subsequently informed his son Frederick, who also sat for the borough, that ‘the rule which, in general I acted upon, was to support the government; as long as the constitution was not infringed upon ... the work of ages ... and which ought to be sacred to every Englishman’.Ibid. 359/124, M. to F. Barne, 7 Nov. 1820.

Barne is not known to have spoken in debate before 1820. On the Treasury list of supporters after his election, he twice voted against Catholic relief in May 1813 and again in 1817. He rallied to ministers on the army estimates and the property tax, 6, 8, 18 Mar. and on the public revenue bill, 17 June 1816. He was also in their majorities on the Admiralty questions of 17 and 25 Feb. 1817. In 1818 his name appeared on a ministerial dinner list.Add. 38366, f. 135. In the ensuing Parliament he voted with ministers on Wyndham Quin, 29 Mar., against Tierney’s censure motion, 18 May, and for the foreign enlistment bill, 10 June 1819.

He died 12 June 1837. Of the four Barne brothers in the House, he was the only one who married and he was easily overshadowed by his brilliant and charming wife.Barne coll. 359/93, 96.