Thomas Barker (academic)
Thomas Barker, D.D. was an Oxford college head in the 18th-century.
Barker was born in Lancashire and matriculated at Brasenose College, Oxford in 1745, at age 17. He graduated B.A. in 1749 and M.A. in 1751.
Becoming a Fellow of Brasenose in 1750, Barker was a member of the Red Herring dining club, which had Jacobite associations and ceased meeting in 1761, at the end of its existence. He was Principal of Brasenose from 1777 until 1785. He was succeeded after his death by William Cleaver.
During Barker's time, Brasenose was the butt of satirical humour in Hannah Cowley's 1779 play Who's the Dupe?, for pedantry, provincial manners and unfashionable dress, in the character Gradus.
