MA BC Camb 1904, MD 1912, DMRE 1921; MRCS LRCP Lond 1904; FRCP 1941; OBE 1918; DSc Manch 1949; DSc Oxford 1949.
Barclay was a radiologist of great significance. He was a pioneer in X-ray diagnosis, especially of the alimentary tract. Barclay had a long and illustrious career, being based for many years in Manchester, before moving to Cambridge and later to Oxford, where he died on 26 April 1949.
Barclay was born in Manchester on 30 September 1876 and studied at Cambridge, Manchester and the London Hospital. After holding house positions at the London Hospital, Barclay returned to Manchester in1906 to set up in private radiological practice. He was soon appointed honorary medical officer at Ancoats Hospital, where the first real X-ray department in Manchester had been established. He was later appointed honorary radiologist at MRI and Lecturer in Radiology at University of Manchester.Here Barclay established an international reputation and a first class department. It was in Manchester that he developed techniques for X-rays of the alimentary tracts using barium meals. In 1928, Barclay was appointed lecturer in Medical Radiology and Electrology Cambridge, and consequently retired from his X-ray practice in Manchester. At this stage in his career, Barclay developed his interest in cine-roentgenography. In 1937 he joined the Nuffield Institute of Medical Research at Oxford and used cine-roentgenography to demonstrate the workings of foetal circulation.
Barclay was president of the Roentgen Society in 1924 and was instrumental in arranging the first Internation Congress of Radiology in 1925. He was later president of electrical therapy section of Royal Society of Medicine and president of the British Institute of Radiology. Barclay was a member of Manchester Medical Society . Shortly before his death he was given the honorary degree of DSc by both Manchester and Oxford Universities.