he served as chairman and later president of the royal society for the protection of birds; president of the gloucestershire naturalists' society; president of the royal agricultural society of england; president of the british pig association; and a vice-president of the nature in art trust. barber was knighted in the 1984 birthday honours and was created a life peer as baron barber of tewkesbury, "of gotherington in the county of gloucestershire", on 12 august 1992.