Person    | Female  Born 19/12/1900  Died 4/9/1951

Barbara Barclay Carter

Categories: Friend / family, Literature

Countries: France, Italy, Switzerland, USA

A Catholic convert who translated Italian writing and promoted the Italian democratic cause.

Born California, but brought up in England and studied in France. From TerraNouvelle: "... she interviewed Luigi Sturzo on behalf of the Daily Herald. This was the beginning of what was to be a lasting collaboration. Acting at first as his interpreter, she became his regular translator and was brought into ever closer contact with Christian Democracy in its international manifestations."

Sturzo was a guest of Carter and Cicely M. Marshall, 1926-33, while in London, exiled from Italy.

Read her story in her own words at Catholic Authors.

Source: TerraNouvelle.

Our colleague, Andrew Behan, states that she was born on 19 December 1900 in Santa Barbara, California, USA, and her full name was Dorothy Barbara Barclay Carter. She was the only child of John Alexander Carter (b.1860) and Lucia Rebecca Carter née Barclay (1867-1913). In 1901 she was baptised in the Episcopalian Church in Montecito, Santa Barbara, California.

She came to England in 1902 and in the 1911 census she is shown as aged 10 years and an American citizen, living in a 4 roomed property at 1 Evelyn Mansions, Kew Road, Richmond, Surrey, with her widowed mother and a female general domestic servant. Her mother described herself a beauty specialist who had been born in Jerusalem, Palestine but who was British by parentage.

From July 1920 to June 1921 she was a typist at the International Labour Office in Geneva, Switzerland and from October to December 1921 she was working for Dáil Éireann's Irish Legation in Rome, Italy. She then went to France and in May 1922 she was residing at 31 rue de Tauron, Paris whilst attending the Sorbonne University.

Electoral registers from 1930 to 1934 show her listed as Dorothy Barbara Barclay Carter at 213b Gloucester Terrace, London, W2, with Edith Jones and Cicely Mary Marshall (1871-1955). From 1935 the electoral registers list her as Barbara Barclay Carter at 32 Chepstow Villas, London, W11, with Edith Jones, Cicely Mary Marshall and Valentine Watts. From 1937 Edith Jones was no longer listed. The 1939 England and Wales Register confirmed her date of birth and she is shown as Dorothy B. B. Carter, a journalist and author, still residing at 32 Chepstow Villas with: Cicely M. Marshall, a person of private means and Hilda Clausen (b.1891), a widowed working housekeeper.

Probate records list her as Dorothy Barbara Barclay Carter otherwise Barbara Barclay Carter, confirming that her address was 32 Chepstow Villas and that she died, aged 50 years, on 4 September 1951 at Bordighera, Italy. Administration, with a will, was granted to Cicely Mary Marshall, a spinster, on 31 May 1952 and her effects totalled £96-5s-0d.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Barbara Barclay Carter

Commemorated ati

Don Luigi Sturzo

Don Luigi Sturzo, 1871 - 1959, Italian political leader, lived here in exile ...

Read More

Other Subjects

Dr. Keningale Robert Cook, LL.D

Dr. Keningale Robert Cook, LL.D

Keningale Robert Cook was born on 26 September 1845 in Smallbridge, Rochdale, Lancashire (now Greater Manchester), a son of Robert Keningale Cook (1812-1891) and Ellen Cook née Nield (1823-1909). H...

Person, Benefactor, Literature, Poetry

1 memorial
Leonard Woolf

Leonard Woolf

Author and publisher. Born Leonard Sidney Woolf in Kensington. After working in the Ceylon (now Sri Lanka) Civil Service, he returned to Britain where he met and married Virginia Stephen. Together ...

Person, Journalism / Publishing, Literature, Sri Lanka

4 memorials
Leigh Hunt

Leigh Hunt

Poet. Born Southgate. Named 'James Henry Leigh Hunt' after the Duke of Chandos, James Henry Leigh, who was employing Hunt's father, a preacher, as tutor to his nephew at the time of Hunt's birth. F...

Person, Literature, Poetry

6 memorials
John Walker

John Walker

Author of the Pronouncing Dictionary.  Actor then teacher. Published "Critical Pronouncing Dictionary, Rules Addressed to Citizens of Scotland, Ireland and London" in 1791. Friends with Dr. Johnson...

Person, Literature

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Killed at Royal Hospital Chelsea - WW1

Killed at Royal Hospital Chelsea - WW1

SW3, Royal Hospital Road, Royal Hospital Chelsea, Middle Court

Both the 1918 and the 1945 events caused death and destruction at the north east wing of the Hospital, where there is another plaque.

Civilian war dead | WW1
8 subjects commemorated
Arthur Onslow

Arthur Onslow

Electred Speaker of the House of Commons in 1728, a post he held for a record-setting 33 years. Born Chelsea.  View from the Mirror credits Onslow with the invention of kerbstones.

Person, Politics & Administration

2 memorials
Mary Millington

Mary Millington

W1, Great Windmill Street, 42 - 44

The unveiling of this plaque coincided with the release of a documentary film about Millington.

3 subjects commemorated
Melanie Klein

Melanie Klein

Psychoanalyst and pioneer of child analysis.  Born with the surname Reizes in Vienna.  Her 1903 marriage to Arthur Klein led to the end of her education, 3 children, frequent home moves and divorce...

Person, Medicine, Austria

1 memorial
ICI - 8 - Priestley

ICI - 8 - Priestley

SW1, Millbank, 9, Imperial Chemical House

For an idea of what this area used to be like see this 1894ish map. It was all redeveloped following the 1928 flood. This block was desig...

1 subject commemorated, 1 creator