Henry Barkly was born in Middlesex in 1815 and was knighted in 1853.
Sir Henry Barkly was a British colonial administrator and had served in British Guyana, Jamaica and Australia before governing Mauritius between 1863 and 1870.
Sir Henry Barkly introduced the Labour law of 1867 with the intent of protecting Indian labour immigrants; but instead, it became an oppressive law as every Indian labourer was required to carry with him a work permit, a police pass and the area within which he was authorized to move. Unless a labourer could produce his pass, he was locked away until he was brought before a Magistrate. The punishment was imprisonment with hard labour.
Sir Henry Barkly devoted a considerable amount of time on his passion: botany. He collected many specimens of plants, took extensive notes and corresponded with botanists at Kew and elsewhere, writing and responding to queries on Mr. Ward’s paper on the Coco de Mer, about the Colombo root, the Cucculus; which in England, was said to have useful properties for the treatment of Dysentery. Barkly was highly interested in Mauritius’ ferns.
Sir Henry Barkly also arranged to have the entire collection of the RSAS transferred to Kew Gardens. Some plants that Lady Barkly planned to send included Lindsaea laungium, some Aspleniums and some curious specimens from the Seychelles.
Sir Henry Barkly initiated the laying of the foundation stone of the HRH Duke of Edinburgh Observatory.
Today, several buildings bear Sir Henry Barkly’s name. The Barkly Asylum and the Barkly Experimental station. This station was started in 1926 by Sir Harold Tempany and the first major project undertaken there was the setting up of an orchard with all the best fruit trees found locally. This was soon followed by the introduction of other fruit trees such as a coconut variety from Pemba, litchi varieties, citrus species and ornamentals from abroad.