Barter, Richard Berkely (1802–70), hydropathic doctor, was born at Cooldaniel, Co. Cork, fifth son among seven children of Richard Barter and Elizabeth Barter (née Berkely). He trained at the London (later Royal) College of Physicians and became a member of the Royal College of Surgeons, England (1828) and subsequently a dispensary doctor at Inniscarra, Co. Cork. Impressed by the curative power of water during the 1832 cholera epidemic, he opened St Anne's Hydrotherapy Establishment, the first steam baths in Ireland, at Blarney, Co. Cork (1843). Inspired and supervised by David Urquhart (Pillars of Hercules (1850)), Barter opened there the first Turkish bath in the British Isles (1856), an elaborate building with marble floors and stained-glass windows; later extended to accommodate domestic animals and with free provision for the poor, it became one of the leading hydropathic establishments in Europe. Largely under Barter's supervision, baths were built throughout Ireland. He lectured and travelled widely, promoting his patented system as a means of preventing and curing disease, and edited The Turkish bath, with a view to its introduction into the British dominions (1856). He was a founder member and honorary secretary of the County of Cork Agricultural Society, and died at Blarney 3 October 1870.
He married (1836) Mary, daughter of John Newman of Dromore, Co. Cork; of their seven sons and four daughters, Richard and Ulick were both knighted.