Barry Close, 1st Baronet

Memorial by John Flaxman in St. Mary's Church, Madras for Close, showing a Brahmin and a Muslim grieving.

Sir Barry Close, 1st Baronet (3 December 1756 – 12 April 1813) was an army general in the East India Company and a political officer.

Life Barry Close was born at Elm Park in Armagh, the third son of Maxwell Close and his wife Mary. The family had moved from Yorkshire to Ireland during the reign of Charles I. Barry joined the Madras army as a fifteen-year-old cadet in 1771 after his early schooling in Ireland. He was commissioned an ensign with the Madras infantry in 1773 and rose to become an adjutant of the 20th battalion in 1777. He saw action in the defence of Tellicherry against Hyder Ali and his General Sirdar Khan in 1780. Close's treatment of the sepoys and his leadership prevented his battalion from mutinying unlike several others. He gained a reputation as a linguist and chose to conduct all business with the sepoys in their own language. The title became extinct on Close's death in London on 12 April 1813, and he was buried at St Marylebone Parish Church, Middlesex.

The town of Closepet near Mysore was named after him although it was later renamed Ramanagara.