Collection description:
The papers listed in this catalogue relate principally to the commercial, trading and plantation business interests in India, Malaysia and the Far East, of the Barlow family of Thornby, Northamptonshire, during the period 1895-1982. They were deposited by Henry S. Barlow following an earlier and larger deposit of the familys papers with the Manuscripts Department of Cambridge University Library, which also includes a large quantity of business records. Researchers of the family's business activities should therefore be aware of considerable overlap between the two deposits.
The holdings at the Centre of South Asian Studies were catalogued by Jonathan Spain after a generous donation from Henry Barlow. The papers have been grouped under four members of the family, spanning the second, third and fourth generations of the Barlow business empire.
The text of a 2021 interview with Dato’ Henry Barlow, the donor of the collection, can be found here

• Sir John Emmott Barlow Bt, (1857-1932):
  • Boxes 1-3: home correspondence 1904-20.
  • Boxes 4-11: foreign correspondence 1895-1930.
• Sir John Denman Barlow, Bt, MP (1898-1986):
  • Boxes 12, C/2: personal, family and business papers 1934-66.
• Thomas Bradwall Barlow (1900-88):
  • Boxes 13-35: correspondence with managers 1924-80.
  • Boxes 36-41: Far Eastern tours papers, miscellaneous correspondence 1958-82.
  • Boxes 42-43: Joseph W. Allgrove, plantation reports and papers 1959-76.
  • Box 44: correspondence with visiting agents, special advisors and others 1959-78.
  • Boxes 45-46: palm oil papers 1968-75.
  • Boxes 47-64: business records of, and papers relating to, companies within the Barlow Group during Thomas B. Barlows chairmanship, (in alphabetical order).
  • Box C/1, 3: personal financial and estate papers 1951-64.
• Henry Sackville Barlow (b.1944):
  Papers as financial/joint managing director of Barlow Boustead Estates Agency Ltd/ Sdn Bhd comprising:
  • Boxes 65-72: accounts, minutes, correspondence and papers 1966-82.
  • Boxes 73-76: correspondence and papers relating to Malaysianisation, reorganisation and disposal 1971-83.
  • Boxes 77-82: technical reports and papers including Group Engineers Department, Engineering Coordinating Committee, Rubber and Palm Oil Committee papers 1970-82.
  • Box 83: miscellaneous papers including general circulars 1973-82.
  • Boxes 84-88: business files relating to companies within the Barlow Boustead Estates Agency Group, (in alphabetical order) 1966-81.
  • Boxes 89-98: business files mainly as a director of other companies, within the wider Barlow Group, including his Highlands & Lowlands directors papers and Thomas Barlow & Bro. partnership papers, (in alphabetical order) 1968-82.