John Barber

22/7/1929 - 4/2/2015

Record updated 22-Jul-21

A Billingsgate fish merchant who, with very little experience, entered the Argentine Grand Prix in 1953 finishing 8th all be it seven laps down on Alberto Ascari in a Ferrari 500s

Barber was born in Little Marlow, Buckinghamshire. After school he joined the family fishmonger business in Billingsgate, eventually running the business with his brother. During this time the firm acquired two salmon fisheries in Galway and Toombridge in Ireland.

He started competing in 1951 initially in hillclimbs but then on circuits with his Cooper-JAP before purchasing a Formula 2 Cooper-Bristol Mk1 for the 1952 season. He won a minor Libre race at Snetterton, but crashed the car badly at season's end.

He ventured to South America at the start of 1953 with a Cooper-Bristol T23 (CB-1-53) and drove steadily in the Argentine Grand Prix but could only manage eighth behind the dominant Ferrari 500s, Maseratis and Gordinis. He then finished 12th in the Buenos Aires Libre race.

He returned to the UK and briefly raced the flying saucer-shaped Golding-Cooper, which was built on the frame of his damaged Mk1. It was racing this car in the British Empire Trophy at the Isle of Man that he was innocently involved in the aftermath of a fatal accident which befell James Neilson. Barber soon dispensed with the car and was not seen in action again until a brief return to racing in 1955 with a Jaguar C-Type at national level.

His Golding-Cooper was rebuilt as a single-seater around 1970 and became a regular sight in historic competitions.

In the late 1960s John sold the leases to the fisheries to the Irish Government without telling his brother. The ensuing feud led to John moving overseas where his exact location as unknow for some time. Eventually it transpired he was living in Mallorca, where he died in 2015.

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