The Right Honourable Lord Barnby, CText FTI, was born Francis Vernon Willey in 1884 and succeeded to the title in 1929. He had a life-long association with the textile industry and his connections, not only in textiles, were wide-ranging. He joined The Textile Institute in 1926 and was awarded the Fellowship and Chartered Membership in 1928. In 1960, the Institute’s Silver Jubilee year, he was elected President of The Textile Institute, a position he held for 2 years.

Lord Barnby had an international reputation, particularly in wool textile circles, and had business interests in many countries so he appreciated the international character of the Institute’s membership. In his Presidential Address in 1960 he emphasised the importance of research and technological developments to successful business enterprises. He firmly believed that knowledge was the key to commercial success and that The Textile Institute was ‘the gateway to knowledge in the textile industries’.

He demonstrated this belief tangibly in 1980 when he established a subsidiary of his charitable foundation to support the work of the Institute. This finance is used to maintain and develop the Lord Barnby Foundation Library and Information Service, which is housed at The Textile Institute’s International Headquarters in Manchester, England. The Library has developed into an important source of information on technological advances and on business, economic and management data for TI members throughout the world.