Background
He was the fifth son of Sir Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 1st Baronet, and Dorothy Saint Aubyn and a grandson of Baron Dacre of Belhus in County Essex, England.
He was the fifth son of Sir Thomas Barrett-Lennard, 1st Baronet, and Dorothy Saint Aubyn and a grandson of Baron Dacre of Belhus in County Essex, England.
Barrett-Lennard arrived at the Swan River Colony on board the Marquis of Anglesea on 23 August 1829 bringing with him six servants and substantial assets including farm animals and equipment. He was allotted a relatively large grant of 2,906 acres (118 km²) and quickly established a property in the virgin bushland in the West Swan Area near Guildford which he named Street Leonard"son In December 1829, the Lieutenant-Governor, James Stirling appointed him, along with five other prominent settlers, a Justice of the Peace.
On 4 May 1840, Barrett-Lennard replaced William Locke Brockman in one of the four nominee positions on the Western Australian Legislative Council.
He only held the position until the following year before resigning, possibly due to a fire which destroyed the Saint Leonards homestead in 1841. At his peak, Barrett-Lennard"s holdings comprised 16,000 acres (65 km²) of freehold land with a horse stud and cattle holdings.
He also imported merino sheep. However, much of his assets were on borrowed money and by 1866 he was bankrupt.
After selling his properties to his son"s wife"s family, he lived out his final years alone on the Saint Leonards property in relatively poor circumstances.
He is buried at All Saints Church in Upper Swan.
