Background
Barclay was born 4 August 1833 at Croydon. He was the younger son of John Barclay. He married on 14 July 1857 Sarah Matilda, eldest daughter of Francis Fry, and had nine children, of whom six survived him.
Barclay was born 4 August 1833 at Croydon. He was the younger son of John Barclay. He married on 14 July 1857 Sarah Matilda, eldest daughter of Francis Fry, and had nine children, of whom six survived him.
His education was finished at Bruce Grove House, Tottenham.
He died of a brain aneurysm on 11 November 1876. In March 1860 he patented an ‘indelible writing paper’ for the prevention of forgery, the process of manufacturing which he described in a communication to the Society of Arts. Though not ‘recorded’ as a minister of the Society of Friends (to which body he belonged), he preached in their meetings and missions.
A posthumous volume gives thirty-six of his sermons, which were usually written, an uncommon thing with Friends.
In 1868 he delivered a lecture on the position of the Society of Friends in relation to the spread of the gospel during the last sixty years. He was as strongly opposed to the practice of birthright membership, introduced among Friends in 1737.
His opinions on these points led to his undertaking a series of investigations which culminated in his work on the internal constitution of the obscurer Commonwealth sects, whose origin, ramifications, and practical tendencies.