Monty Barker was born in Glasgow on 12 March 1934. After studying classics he turned to a career in medicine, training at St Andrews and Dundee.
In 1954 he was diagnosed with TB meningitis and for one month was expected to die. He recovered and a career in psychiatry followed, partly though the advice of a senior college who told him ‘You don’t have to be bonkers to become a psychiatrist’. He was appointed as a consultant in Bristol, where junior staff and medical students found him an excellent teacher, although at times quite intimidating.
A formidable partnership
While chairman of the Christian Unions committee in Scotland he met Rosemary Clarke, the Scottish IVF travelling secretary, and they were married in 1962. In later life Monty said: ‘I could not have done what I have done without Rosemary.’ For 52 years their marriage has been a formidable partnership with Rosemary always at his side but never in his shadow.
