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Claude Francis Barry was born on 16 December 1883, the first son of an afßuent aristocratic family. In the way of many peers his family traced their lineage back to early medieval times. While his Irish mother's side embraced the Rainiers of Monaco, his father claimed descent from William the Conqueror and the Emperor Charlemagne.
Barry's grandfather, Sir Francis Tress Barry, earned the family's baronetcy through services to Queen Victoria. In 1846, at the age of 21, he became the Queen's Vice Consul for the province of Biscay. The following year he was appointed Acting Consul for the provinces of Biscay, Santander and Gulpuzcoa, and in 1872 he became Consul General in England for the Republic of Ecuador. While pursuing his diplomatic career, he also amassed a fortune by washing the residue from exhausted Portuguese copper mines. In 1876 he was granted the title, which remained in the family, of Baron de Barry of Portugal.
With his fortune garnered through industry and acumen Barry's grandfather acquired a house at No. 1 South Audley Street in London's Mayfair, and several large estates: Keiss Castle in Scotland, Ockwell Manor at Bray on the River Thames, and St. Leonard's Hill which, conveniently for an ambitious industrialist, abutted the royal lands at Windsor. Barry's grandfather is said to have enjoyed an informal relationship with Queen Victoria; Barry himself remembered as a child being dandled on the monarch's knees, and his daughter recalled that when visiting St. Leonard's Hill she was admonished never to look at people in the gardens as they might be royal visitors.
From 1890 to 1906 Sir Francis served as the Conservative Member of Parliament for Windsor. It was during this period, in 1899, that he was granted the baronetcy of 'St. Leonard's Hill, Berks, and Keiss Castle, Caithness-shire'. As his family motto he chose 'Boutez en avant' which translates as 'Push forward', an exhortation which he followed admirably.
Ockwells Manor, where the young Francis Barry spent his childhood, was a ne example of neo-Gothic architecture requiring a staff of 60 to manage the house and a further 60 to look after the gardens and grounds. When the Manor was sold by the family for development after the First World War, it could only be demolished with dynamite.
Keiss Castle in the remote north east of Scotland was the family's summer home. Like many royals and members of the aristocracy, the Barrys retreated to Caithnesshire to escape the social pressures of the city. At Keiss they indulged in shooting, fishing and studying antiquities. In several letters written to the young Francis his grandfather mentioned ancient coins he had found and archaeological digs he was conducting on a neighbour's grounds. Such comments as 'Uncle Douglas caught 6 salmon in one day', 'We bagged 101 pheasants', and 'I got one partridge, one hare, one rabbit, a couple of snipe, a brace of grouse and three curlew' indicate the lifestyle at Keiss.
When Sir Francis Tress Barry, the first baronet, died in 1907, he was succeeded by his son, Edward – Francis Barry's father. Born in 1858, educated at Harrow and Caius College, Cambridge, Edward Barry became High Sheriff for Berkshire in 1907 and was confirmed as Baron de Barry of Portugal in 1910. Edward Barry was a designer/engineer, and the co-owner of an iron foundry in Belgium. A hardworking industrialist, Edward Barry commuted regularly from his home at Ockwells Manor
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