Background
Barrow was born in England, son of John Barrow.
Barrow was born in England, son of John Barrow.
He was then transferred to Bradford, Yorkshire where he began writing for the Bradford Observer. Barrow went to Adelaide, South Australia in 1851 with his family and obtained a position in the office of the South Australian Register. He also did work on the literary side and, when Andrew Garran went to Sydney, succeeded him as principal leader writer
Also in 1858 Barrow left the Register to become editor and manager of the newly established The South Australian Advertiser whose first issue appeared on 12 July 1858.
The first number of the Weekly Chronicle came out a five days later, and in 1863 the Express was started as an evening paper. Though these papers were conducted with ability, the controlling company did not prosper, and it was wound up in 1864.
The papers passed into the hands of a proprietary of eight persons of whom Barrow was one, and in 1871 Barrow and Thomas King became the sole proprietors. Barrow was editor of the Advertiser until he fell into ill-health a few months before his death.
In 1870 he was one of the South Australian delegates to the intercolonial conference held at Melbourne.
In 1871 he resigned from the council, and the following year was returned to the South Australian House of Assembly for Sturt. He joined the seventh Henry Ayers ministry as Treasurer of South Australia in March 1872, holding the position until Ayers resigned in July 1873. In mid-1873, Barrow"s health declined, and though he went to the intercolonial conference at Sydney as one of the South Australian delegates in the hope that change of scene might lead to its improvement, it continued to deteriorate.
He died in Adelaide on 22 August 1874 of an effusion on the brain.
Barrow left behind him a reputation in his own time as a speaker and journalist. Barrow was married to Sarah (ca1814 – 4 October 1856).
Philip Henry Burden, Jnr. (died 5 October 1902), the eldest adopted son, married Rachel Ann English (died 23 August 1940), daughter of Thomas English, on 25 February 1875.
Mary married again, to Benjamin Cowderoy on 25 November 1878.
The editing of a newspaper is a sufficiently exacting piece of work for most people, but Barrow was a man of tireless energy and contrived also to carry out the duties of a member of parliament during nearly the whole of this period. He did not seek re-election for the assembly in 1860 but in 1861 became a member of the South Australian Legislative Council.