Barber

John Christian Barber, a young Englishman, visited Mérida and Veracruz during the course of a trip to Mexico in 1914. He kept a diary of his trip.

When World War I began, Barber enlisted in the British army and was killed in action in Flanders in 1915 (within 20 months of making these diary entries).

Barber was the son of Beatriz's step-father's sister, Alice. His diary, and an accompanying letter about his trip, were kept by his family and sent to Beatriz by his own sister, possibly in the 1960s or '70s. Beatriz made a longhand copy of about 30 pages. Beatriz's copy copy was sent to me by Sarah Romano. This web page is based on Beatriz's handwritten copy.

Beatriz herself figures in the diary. There are also two trips to Uayalceh and daily social life in Mérida. In April Barber went from Mérida to Veracruz and was in the middle of the street fighting when the U.S. fleet seized the city.

This is a pretty long piece of text and I've divided it into two parts. The first has the March diary entries in Mérida while the second has the entries in Veracruz, and on the trip to Galveston on a refugee ship.

Jack Barber's visit to Mérida - March 1914

Jack Barber's visit to Veracruz, April 1914

The Barber diary is made available courtesy of my sister Sarah Romano.

This web page was last updated on Sunday, April 11, 2004.

You can email the webmaster at benmuse@alaska.com .