and Russia, travelling on the Trans-Siberian Railway. In Beijing he met with de Lessar (the Russian Minister), after which he visited Shenyang and Harbin also in China. Then he travelled through Russia, visiting Irkutsk (and the Convict Settlement at Alexandrowski), then Tomsk and Omsk. The trip ended with a week in Moscow and St Petersburg, "where he was received by, amongst others, the British Minister (Sir Charles Scott), and Prince Khilkoff". He became Russian Trade Organiser for the Chamber, and this led to him later helping during the Russian imperial visit to Cowes in 1909 for which he was awarded membership of the Order of Saint Anna. Barker retired (after thirty-one years as Secretary) at the end of 1912, the year in which the Chamber had negotiated improvements to the Liverpool telephone network, alongside the General Post Office taking over UK telephone networks. (See also the photograph of Barker with Marconi at left.) During his time as Secretary he had been involved in many prominent people, such as Lord Halsbury, Lord Lansdowne, Winston Churchill, and the King of Siam. Personal life Barker was born on 18 May 1841 at 9 Earle Street in Liverpool, the second son of Charles Frederick Barker and Elizabeth Barker (née Hezelwood), and he was baptised on 8 June 1841 at St Peter's Church, Liverpool. His siblings were Charles Frederick Barker (1838–1887), Elizabeth Barker (1838–1840) and Joseph Bolton Barker (1844–?). Thomas Henry was living at 79 Canning Street, Liverpool in 1861 at the age of 19, with his mother Elizabeth (already a widow) and working as a ships' clerk. In the household were his brothers Joseph Bolton Barker (aged 16) and Charles N. Barker (aged 24, working as a mariner), and their aunt Isabella Hazelwood (aged 52). On 25 April 1875 he married Mary Ellen Moulsdale in Walton, Liverpool. Barker enjoyed travelling, and as well as visiting many different parts of the world in the course of his professional duties he also travelled for pleasure. In 1908 after the Conference of the Associated Chambers of Commerce in Montreal he went on a journey to Japan and China and returned to Liverpool via the Trans-Siberian Railway soon after it was opened. In April 1906 (fifty years after starting his career) the members of the Liverpool Chamber of Commerce presented Barker with a large oil portrait of himself, which afterwards hung in the Chambers' offices and today is