The divining-rod

10 February 1844 – 26 May 1925

William Fletcher Barrett was born in Jamaica where his father, William Garland Barrett, a member of the London Missionary Society, ministered to emancipated African slaves. In 1848, he returned with his family to Royston, England. In 1855 they moved to Manchester, and he attended Old Trafford Grammar School. Barrett then studied chemistry and physics at the Royal College of Chemistry in London. In 1867 he became the science master at the International College, London, then assistant to John Tyndall at the Royal Institution. He then taught at the Royal School of Naval Architecture, and in 1873 he became Professor of Experimental Physics at the Royal College of Science for Ireland. His moth…