Thomas Barrow was a British servant who served as a butler at Downton Abbey during the early 20th century.
Biography[]
Barrow in 1918
Thomas Barrow was born in Yorkshire, England, the son of a clockmaker. He was hired as junior footman at Downton Abbey in 1910, and he became the estate's clock expert, winding all the clocks in the house. He rose to be first footman, head valet, and under-butler, and he served as a corporal in the British Army during World War I. Barrow, who enlisted in the Territorial Army's medical corps as a means of escaping being fired at Downton for repeatedly attempting to frame John Bates for crimes (and hoping that he would not be sent to the front), grew cowardly during his time at the front. In 1916, on hearing from Lieutenant Matthew Crawley that he would have to pull some strings to be sent back home, Barrow lifted a cigarette lighter above his trench at night, tricking a German soldier into shooting him in the hand and giving him an excuse to be sent back home. He was assigned to manage the household staff of Downton Abbey after the estate was converted into a convalescent hospital, reporting to Major Richard Clarkson and using his title to bully staff members like William Mason and John Bates. After the war's end in 1918, Barrow became a black marketeer, obtaining non-perishable food supplies and selling some to the kitchen staff at Downton Abbey. However, he became bankrupt after realizing that all of the supplies were fakes; the sugar contained plastic dust, meaning that none of the wares he had bought could be sold, and that his entire investment was lost.
Barrow struggled with his closeted homosexuality for years, having an affair with Philip Villiers, Duke of Crowborough and going to London for conversion therapy under the pretense of visiting his ailing father. In 1925, he replaced Charles Carson as head butler, only to resign in 1928 in order to move to California with film star Guy Dexter, with whom he had carried on a secret relationship.
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