Architect. Barnish studied at the Liverpool School of Architecture where he was awarded the Certificate in Architecture in 1903 and the Diploma in Civic Design in 1914. He was an assistant to Frederick Moore Simpson in 1904 and to Grayson and Ould between 1905 and 1911. He then established a partnership with George Hastwell Grayson in Rodney Street in Liverpool. Operating as Grayson & Barnish (1914–c.1933), they designed branches of Lloyds Bank in Victoria Street and Bold Street, Liverpool. Their masterpiece was the Southport War Memorial (1919–23). Barnish joined the Sandon Studios Society in 1921 and was President of the Liverpool Architectural Society in 1933. With Herbert Thearle and Herbert Silcock he worked on the designs for the Liverpool Orphanage in 1939 which was awarded the Royal Institute of British Architects Bronze Medal for Building of Merit.
Bibliography: R.F. Bisson, The Sandon Studios Society and the Arts, Liverpool, 1965, pp. 134–35, 145; L. Budden, The Book of the Liverpool School of Architecture, Liverpool, 1932, p. 45; A. Felstead et al, Directory of British Architects, 1834–1900, London, 2001, p. 119; E. Morris and E. Roberts, Public Sculpture of Cheshire and Merseyside, Liverpool, 2012, pp. xxv, 11–13, 201–03; J. Sharples et al, Charles Reilly and the Liverpool School of Architecture 1904–1933 (Walker Art Gallery), Liverpool, 1996, pp. 30, 166.
Emma Roberts, 2012