Dr Wilfred (‘Bill’) Barlow (1915 – 1991)

Dr Barlow was born in the north of England and raised in Wales. He studied medicine at Oxford University. He first went to Alexander for treatment for a shoulder injury. He later trained with Alexander and graduated in 1941.

He married Marjory Meachin in 1940 and assisted her in running an Alexander teacher-training course 1950 – 1982. He successfully brought to fruition plans for the establishing of a Society for Alexander Teachers in 1958. He edited the Alexander Journal for many years. He was medical director of The Alexander Institute from 1955 to 1991. He was a specialist in rheumatic diseases and held a large number of hospital appointments. He was one of the expert witnesses for F.M. Alexander in a celebrated libel case brought to court in South Africa in 1948, where judgement was delivered in Alexander’s favour. The country’s Supreme Court dismissed a subsequent appeal against the judgement in 1949.

I first met Dr Barlow in 1985 when I went to him for Alexander lessons. A few months after our initial meeting, he offered me a place in his teaching practice. During my years working in his Alexander Institute at Albert Court (and later at Balderton St), he on occasion took me aside and offered straightforward and helpful advice in the art of teaching and the business of dealing with the public. As a novice Alexander Teacher I made many mistakes. After one particular mishap he said to me, “As long as you are learning to apply the principles of the Technique, I will always stand by you.”