Horace Barks

Horace Barks, OBE was Lord Mayor of Stoke-on-Trent in 1951–2.

Barks was born in the countryside near Stoke-on-Trent and came from a working class background. His experiences in World War I left him with pacifist beliefs. He was a member of the Labour Party, the dominant party in Stoke-on-Trent during the twentieth century.

Barks' cultural interests included Esperanto and the writer Arnold Bennett. Barks and his son Guy were active in the Arnold Bennett Society, which is based in Stoke-on-Trent. The reference library in the city is named after Barks.

Esperanto
Barks was involved with starting classes at the Wedgwood Memorial College in Barlaston, which remains an important centre of Esperanto education.

Through Barks' influence his local pub in Smallthorne, Stoke-on-Trent, acquired the name "The Green Star" (an Esperanto symbol) and a sign in Esperanto "La Verda Stelo". It is mentioned in a poem by Raymond Schwartz. Smallthorne also has a street named after Zamenhof.