Background
Barlow was born in London, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Barlow, 1st Baronet, Royal physician, and his wife Ada Dalmahoy.
Barlow was born in London, the eldest son of Sir Thomas Barlow, 1st Baronet, Royal physician, and his wife Ada Dalmahoy.
He was Principal Private Secretary to Ramsay MacDonald, 1933-1934, and later Under-secretary at Her Majesty Treasury. Barlow was a knight three times over. A baronet and a knight of both the Order of the Bath and the Order of the British Empire.
Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1918, Central Bank 1928, Knight Commander of the Order of the British Empire 1938, Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath 1942, Knight Grand Cross of the Order of the Bath 1947.
Barlow married Nora Darwin, the daughter of Horace Darwin, son of Charles Darwin (see Darwin — Wedgwood family). They had six children:
Joan Helen Barlow (26 May 1912 - 21 February 1954)
Sir Thomas Erasmus Barlow, 3rd Baronet (23 January 1914 - 12 October 2003), naval officer
Erasmus Darwin Barlow (15 April 1915 - 2 August 2005)
Andrew Dalmahoy Barlow (b 16 September 1916 – 2006), was the father of mathematician Martin T. Barlow. Horace Basil Barlow (b 8 December 1921).