Baron, Henry John Allcock (1863 - 1948)

Born in Birmingham on 23 November 1863.  Died Drummoyne, Sydney, 22 April 1948.

His father was a master pearl button maker who later became a retail brewer. Henry Baron attended the Severn National School in Birmingham.  When he was 19 he decided to immigrate to Australia for health reasons and arrived in Brisbane on board the SS Hampshire on 31^st July 1883.  On 26 March 1885 he married Emily Bradbury who had come to Australia with her family on board the same ship.  In 1889 they moved to Sydney and for most of the remainder of his life he lived in Drummoyne.  For a short period he moved to North Ryde, renting his house in Drummoyne. On his return, in about 1938, he and his wife moved into 15 Broughton Street where he remained until his death.

He joined the NSW Govt. Printers Office in 1891 and was there until 1898. He and Edward Minchen were the only lithographers in the Office during that time. In August, 1898, he transferred to the Government Architect's Branch and was there until 1906.

He described himself as a lithographic artist but his wife referred to him as a commercial artist as he went into business in the city as a commercial artist.  He designed product labels and the art work for some series of cigarette cards for W.D. & H.O. Wills. [link]

From his library, it seems he was a typical, educated Victorian man who was interested in a great variety of subjects including natural science.

He always spelt “Allcock” with two “l”s and that is how it is spelt on his birth certificate although some other relations spelt it with one “l”. 

Source: Extracted from: Harley Tarrant, grandson, pers comm (email) + photo 16/7/2009; further email correspondence 1/9/2016.
H.Hewson Australia - 300 Years of Botanical Illustration (1999)