Barnes Compton (November 16, 1830 - December 4, 1898), was a Representative of the fifth congressional district of Maryland and a Maryland state Treasurer. Born in Port Tobacco, Charles County, Maryland, Compton attended the Charlotte Hall Academy in St. Mary's County, Maryland for his formal education, and graduated from Princeton College in June 1851. Compton then returned home and engaged in agricultural pursuits and as a planter. He served as member of the State House of Delegates in 1860 and 1861 and as member of the State Senate in 1867, 1868, 1870, and 1872, during the 1868 and 1870 sessions he served as the Senate president in 1868. Compton also served as State tobacco inspector in 1873 and 1874 and as State treasurer during 1874-1885.
Compton then moved to Laurel in Prince George's County, Maryland in 1880 and was elected as a Democrat to the Forty-ninth and Fiftieth Congresses (March 4, 1885-March 3, 1889). He presented credentials as Member-elect to the Fifty-first Congress and served from March 4, 1889, to March 20, 1890, when he was succeeded by Sydney E. Mudd, Sr., who contested the election. Compton was then elected to the Fifty-second and Fifty-third Congresss and served from March 4, 1891, until his resignation, effective May 15, 1894 when he was then appointed by President Cleveland as naval officer at Baltimore, Maryland, a post in which he served from 1894 to 1898.
Compton died in Laurel, Maryland and was interred in Loudon Park Cemetery in Baltimore. He is also the great-grandson of Philip Key.
