Barrett, John (d. 1693), soldier and Jacobite, emerged in James II’s (qv) reign (nothing being known of his early life) as the head of the Barrett family who held 400 acres in Castlemore, near Mallow, Co. Cork. MP for Mallow in James II's Irish parliament, he raised a regiment of 652 infantry from neighbouring Jacobite families. With the disbandment of his regiment in the fortnight preceding the battle of the Boyne, he became military governor of Waterford. On his surrendering the town to a besieging Williamite army led by Maj.-gen. Percy Kirke (qv), the saviour of Derry, Barrett led a military force under arms to join the Cork garrison, which later surrendered to the superior forces of John Churchill (qv), later duke of Marlborough. A prisoner on board the Breda man-of-war, he survived an explosion in its magazine by being blown into shallow water.
Attainted in 1691, Barrett opted to go to France after the treaty of Limerick. He became lieutenant-colonel of Dorrington's regiment, the Royal Irish Regiment (James II's foot guards) and distinguished himself at its head in the battle of Landen (19 July 1693). At the crisis of the battle, the French marshal, the duke of Luxembourg, moved his centre, including two battalions of King James's Irish guards, for a third assault on the allied position. Col. Barrett led the successful offensive, forcing a breach in the allied lines. Although the Wild Geese played a decisive role in turning the tide of battle, they suffered huge fatalities, including their leader Patrick Sarsfied (qv) and Barrett himself.
Nicholas Plunkett (qv) attested that ‘in this action Colonel Barrett, by his bold heading of the said Irish regiment signalized himself and slept in the bed of honour’ (O'Callaghan, Irish brigades, 174). Barrett's widow, Catherine McCarthy, died aged 85 at Saint-Germain-en-Laye, where she was buried.