Barry"s grandfather was the architect Sir Charles Barry, his father the architect Charles Barry, Junior. and his uncles the civil engineer Sir John Wolfe Barry and the architect Edward Middleton Barry. Arthur John Barry was the fourth child of the architect Charles Barry, Junior. and his wife Harriet Gardiner Pitman May. He was born on 21 November 1859 at 5 Woburn Place, Russell Square, Holborn and baptised at Street George"s, Hart Street, Bloomsbury.
He was educated at Uppingham School.
The Barry family was notable in the nineteenth century in the field of architecture and engineering. Arthur John Barry was the last generation of the dynasty. His most significant projects were in China, India, Thailand and Egypt.
At 24, in association with Chief Engineer in India Sir Bradford Leslie, he was Chief Engineer in charge of the construction of the Jubilee Bridge (India) over the Hooghley River between Naihati and Bandel which was completed in 1887.
The bridge is noteworthy as a cantilever truss bridge, constructed entirely by riveting without the use of nuts or bolts in the construction. He was the Executive Engineer in charge of the construction of the bridge over the Damuda River and the work of the Damuda district of the Bengal-Nagpur Railway, of which he was afterwards Superintending Engineer of the Bengal section.
In England, he was the Chief Engineer to the:
Chipstead Valley Railway
South Harrow Railway
Crowhurst, Sidley and Bexhill Railway
British and Chinese Corporation Limited
Chinese Central Railway Limited
Chinese Engineering and Mining Company Limited
Shanghai Nanking Railway
New Harbour and Portuguese of Ching Wang Tao (Qinhuangdao) in the Gulf of Pechili
Bombay Portuguese Trust
Kowloon-Canton Railway
He was Consulting Engineer to the:
Johore State Railway
Southern Punjab Railway
and other projects in India, Thailand (Siam) and Egypt.
