Henry Deacon Barry

Barry joined the Royal Navy in the early 1870s. He was promoted to captain on 30 June 1892,^[1] and commanded the protected cruiser HMS Astraea, before he was appointed in command of the pre-dreadnought battleship HMS Mars in September 1900. During his time in command of the Mars, she suffered a serious accident in April 1902 when one of her forward 12-inch (305-mm) guns was fired before the breech was closed, killing two officers and nine enlisted men, injuring seven, and wrecking the forward main battery turret.^[2]

He was posted to the depot ship HMS Duke of Wellington at Portsmouth on 2 January 1903,^[3] and later the same month received a Good Service pension.^[4] He became Director of Naval Ordnance on 1 January 1904, but after a year was appointed Admiral-superintendent of Portsmouth dockyard in February 1905, serving as such until November the following year, when he was appointed in command of a Cruiser squadron in the Mediterranean.

Berry was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO) in 1905, and promoted to a Knight Commander (KCVO) on 10 February 1906, on the occasion of the visit of King Edward VII to Portsmouth to launch the new HMS Dreadnought.^[5]

Barry married, in 1881, Elizabeth Annie Maltby, daughter of Rev. H. J. Maltby.

• Burt, R. A. (1988). British Battleships 1889–1904. Annapolis, MD: Naval Institute Press. ISBN 978-0-87021-061-7.