Kenneth Barnes

Sir Kenneth Ralph Barnes (11 September 1878 – 16 October 1957) was principal of the Academy of Dramatic Art – later the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art (RADA) – in London, from 1909 to 1955.

Barnes was a son of a West Country vicar; his siblings included the actresses Violet Vanbrugh and Irene Vanbrugh. During his education at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford, he became interested in theatre. Over the first decade of the 20th century, he became first a civil servant and then a freelance writer and critic before being appointed to run the academy. His long tenure there was interrupted only by his service in the First World War.

Under Barnes's leadership the academy expanded and flourished, receiving a royal charter in 1920, opening its own theatre in 1921 and, from 1923, awarding degrees under the aegis of the University of London. He was also instrumental in obtaining recognition of acting as a fine art, protecting theatre arts in Britain from taxation. He was knighted in 1938.

Life and career Early years Barnes was born at Heavitree, near Exeter, the youngest of six children of the Reverend Reginald Henry Barnes, Prebendary of Exeter Cathedral and Vicar of Heavitree, and his wife, Frances Mary Emily, Nation. Two of his sisters became actresses using the stage names Violet Vanbrugh and Irene Vanbrugh. He was educated at Westminster School and Christ Church, Oxford,

Academy of Dramatic Art Barnes's sisters Violet and Irene were married to influential actor-managers – respectively Arthur Bourchier and Dion Boucicault, Jr. – who were instrumental in securing for Barnes the post of secretary and administrator of what was then called "Mr Tree's Academy of Dramatic Art". The academy, later (from 1920) the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art, was founded by the actor-manager Herbert Beerbohm Tree in 1904. It was intended to be a British equivalent of the Paris Conservatoire, providing what Tree described as the "elementary training which is recognised as useful in every other art and in every other profession". Barnes succeeded him in 1909. and its future looked uncertain. He revived its fortunes by instituting rigorous procedures for auditioning applicants, maximising the income from fees, and establishing student scholarships related to performance. Kynaston Reeves

In the inter-war years his students included John Gielgud Kay Hammond Cedric Hardwicke Celia Johnson Charles Laughton Vivien Leigh Basil Radford Flora Robson

Students from later in Barnes's tenure included Alan Bates Albert Finney Sheila Hancock Glenda Jackson Alec McCowen Joe Orton Peter O'Toole Siân Phillips Diana Rigg Dorothy Tutin salign = left Barnes's work at the academy was interrupted by the First World War, during which he served as an army officer in India and the Middle East. He was mentioned in dispatches for his work organising morale-boosting entertainments for the soldiers. Barnes raised £78,000, and the Vanbrugh Theatre, named after his sisters, was opened in 1954. He had built up the roll of students from 40 in 1909 to well over 200.

On 16 October 1957 Barnes died at his home in Kingston Gorse, Sussex, aged 79. The Times said of him: