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Berkeley Is Pronounced BarclayBy Richard A. WatsonWashington University, (St. Louis)In response to my inquiry about how Berkeley is pronounced,four scholars responded. Patrick G. Kirby, Chairman of the Boardof Review, Department of Employment and Training, State ofRhode Island and Providence Plantations, writes as follows:In 1985 as Mayor of Newport, Rhode Island, 1 wasparticipating in the Berkeley Tri-centenary celebrations inCloyne, Co. Cork, Ireland, and a descendent of BishopBerkeley told the assembled gathering that it was "Bark-ley"in his family. This comment was in response to a questionposed by one of the participants at the gathering. There wasa division among the assembled as to which version wascorrect. As a lifetime resident of Newport, Rhode Island, Igrew up with the "Burkley" version, but after marrying aDubliner and spending a portion of the past thirty years inIreland, 1 am now a "Barkley" adherent.Professor John Troyer of the University of Connecticut writes:My thesis advisor, Roderick Firth, claimed he was the lastBerkeleian, and for him Berkeley's name rhymed with'darkly'. All the philosophers I know agree, but the onlyevidence 1 have found which supports this consensus comesfrom Luce's biography:In the College Books of the day his name is spelt in fivedifferent ways - Berkeley, Berkley, Berkly, Berkely andBarkly - the last seeming to determine thepronounciation. Berkeley himself always, I think, spellsit with three "e'"s.
BERKELEY IS PRONOUNCED BARCLAY(A. A. Luce, The Life of George Berkeley. Bishop ofCloyne, London, Thomas Nelson and Sons. 1949, p. 24).Since there is a tradition of sorts of spelling 'bark' as 'berk'and no tradition of spelling 'berk' or 'burk' as 'bark', I thinkLuce's remark has some weight - if someone who had onlyheard Berkeley's name wrote 'Barkly', it probably did rhymewith 'darkly.The most extensive comment is from Harriet Jeffrey, ProfessorEmeritus of the University of Colorado:One piece of evidence that 'Barklay' is right lies in the parishrecords of the Trinity Church, Newport, huge volumes whichare kept in a fire-proof basement safe-room in TrinityChurch. The sexton or assistant sexton admitted me to thevault with his keys whenever I went there. Canon Ballardhad told me to investigate for myself, and I believe it washe who first mentioned the Barclay spelling to me while wewere residents in the nineteen fifties. In the summer ofnineteen sixty three, I was given access to the room, andspent hours under a bare lightbulb, reading many notationsabout G.B. The notes record such things as the Sundays whenhe preached at Trinity, his baptising his three negroes andgiving them his name, and so on. One scribe wrote the namein perfect clarity as Barclay.Septr14 Caesar [?] Dalton21 Mary WestonHenry Barclay Son of Dean BarclayBaptised by his Fatherand recieved into the church Septr 21.RICHARD A. WATSONIf you are familiar with Newport, you will have noted thatthe street name in town is pronounced "Burkly" as is theavenue running east of the lane to Whitehall. Quite naturallywe have Americanized "Berkeley", but it is ironic thatBerkeley, California was named for him as a tribute to hishopes for the advancement of learning and culture in theNew World, and that the American pronounciation obscuresthe connection!Incidentally, I know of no evidence that there was "an Irishpronunciation" of G. B. 's name. His English antecedents wereknown, and his Irish born friend, Jonathan Swift, would nothave introduced him to Pope, Addison et.al. as "Burkly".Certainly the educated Irish I have known call him'Barclay"! That includes Professor E. J. Furlong of TrinityCollege, Dublin University, who came over for the CharterMeeting of the International Berkeley Society in April 1977in Newport.Finally Alan Gabbey, former head of the Department of theHistory of Philosophy and Science at Queen's University, Belfast,says that the pronounciation is "Barclay" and that it is mostprobably the same family name as that of Barclay's Bank. Thisseems to be pretty much to settle the issue, but if anyone has adissenting view I'd like to hear it.3Obviously he was familiar with Newport's most famous newresident, but had never seen his name in print or correctlyhandwritten. But I bless this unknown recorder who spelledthe name phonetically!Editor's Note: Berkeley Newsletternote on the same point.Vol. 3 (1979) p. 16 has a short
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