Paul Barbier (1873-1947)

Paul Barbier was the son of Paul Barbier who taught French at Manchester Grammar School and his wife Eupimie who ran a small school. His father was of French extraction and his mother Swiss. While Paul was still a boy, the family moved to Cardiff as his father had been appointed Professor of French at University College, Cardiff. Paul attended school in Cardiff and went on to study at University College, with honours in three separate subjects. Having completed French military service, in 1898 he obtained a job teaching French at Gainsborough Grammar School. The following year he was appointed lecturer at Leeds University and in 1903 became Professor of French. He remained there until his retirement in 1938. In 1906 he married Cécile, who was Swiss, and they had five children.

Barbier was an exceptional scholar and inspiring teacher as well as an efficient administrator. Because of his upbringing, he was equally at home with the English, French and Welsh languages. To this, his education had added fluency in Latin and Greek and a good knowledge of several other European languages including German, Italian and Spanish. His love and interest in words and names was quite remarkable and led him naturally to focus on lexicographical studies. His work on French vocabulary gained him an international reputation and his work is still cited today.

This in turn led him to treasure books, not only for their own sake but also as a source of words to be studied. He was a voracious reader and even used to take a book to bridge evenings so that he could read during the time that he was dummy. During his time at Leeds he took a great interest in the growth and development of the university library. Two of the special collections there (Early French and the Barbier Collection) have their origins in his endeavours.