Joseph Barchard son of Ralph, a yeoman from Hornsea, East Yorkshire, was born in 1711. In 1728 he was apprenticed to Nathaniel Thorney of London, dyer. Later, with a younger half brother, Peter, he set up his own dying company in Southwark, Surrey. This provided his descendants with a considerable inheritance. His grandson, Francis Barchard, built Horsted Place near Uckfield, Sussex, which, when owned by Lord Rupert Nevill, often hosted Queen Elizabeth and the Duke of Edinburgh. It is now a luxury hotel.

William (1796-1863) was the Principal keeper of The Needles lighthouse and came from Yarmouth in Norfolk. Two entire families of the keepers lived inside the small tower instead of using nearby cottages. On the day of the 1851 census there were no less than thirteen people in an area where there were usually no more than three. The Needles Light, described in the 1841 and 1851 census returns, was actually built on the Island on the chalk cliffs above Scratchell Bay but the instability of the cliffs and the height above the water caused it to be moved to where it stands today.