James Barry, 5th Earl of Barrymore was born on 25 April 1717 at London.  He was the son of Lt.-Gen. James Barry, 4th Earl of Barrymore and Lady Anne Chichester. He married Hon. Margaret Davys, daughter of Paul Davys, 1st Viscount Mountcashell and Catharine M’Carty, on 8 June 1738, and died on 19 December 1751 at age 34 in Dublin, County Dublin, Ireland.

He graduated from Brasenose College, Oxford in 1736 with a Master of Arts (M.A.) He became  10th Viscount Barry,  23rd Baron Barry, and the 5th Earl of Barrymore,  on 5 January 1747

James Barry, and Hon. Margaret Davys had one son Richard Barry, 6th Earl of Barrymore (1745 -1773).  Richard Barry was James Smith-Barry’s (1748 – 1801) first cousin. Richard Barry, 6th Earl of Barrymore was the father of the feral Caroline (Billingsgate), born 1768; Richard (Hellgate) born in 1769; Henry (Cripplegate) born in 1770; and Augustus (Newgate) 1773.