During a recent visit to Lisburn, Louisa Smythe gifted an important pair of portraits to the museum’s collection. They depict her four-times-great-grandparents, William Barbour (1797-1875) and Eliza Barbour, née Kennedy (1800-73).
William moved the family’s linen thread business from The Plantation, near Lisburn, to an old bleach green at Hilden around 1823. On this site, he harnessed the power of the River Lagan and built a water-powered twisting mill. By the late nineteenth century, the company that carried his name – William Barbour & Sons – had become the world’s largest manufacturer of linen thread.
In 1821, William married Eliza Kennedy in Market Square (1st) Presbyterian Church, Lisburn. She was the daughter of Samuel Kennedy of Grove Green, Lisburn, a flour miller and solicitor. It is possible that the portraits could date from around this time.
William and Eliza went on to have 13 children. Louisa is descended from their fifth son, Thomas (1832-85), who moved to the United States and helped to establish an American affiliate of the Barbour thread-making business.
The portraits have travelled the globe with the family, but they are now at home in Lisburn. They are a wonderful addition to the museum’s large collection of Barbour-related objects, including a portrait of an aged William Barbour which hangs in our Assembly Room.