But now, the 73-year-old Englishman is happy to call Penang his home and has committed himself to drawing beautiful portraits of people who inspire him every day.
Prior to moving to Penang and his second marriage to a Chinese-Malaysian, Barclay attended art school in his younger years and was even mentored by Ramona Gaston, one of the leading artists in the Philippines.
His art career was short-lived due to having to care for his first wife who was deeply ill at the time, but years later, the pandemic proved to be the perfect time for him to reconnect with his artistic roots.
Through sheer discipline, Barclay paints one artwork a day and is inspired by the artistic skills of his elder grandchildren, which prompted him to pick up his pencil once more.
Aside from his love for art, Barclay’s heart also beats for this little island of Penang he now calls home for the past 18 years – and for good reasons too.
“For me, it’s really about the people themselves and the place,” he told FMT. “The personal histories, family stories, history of the region, depth of culture and the authentic traditions that the various people have brought with them make such a difference.”
However, there is one thing that stands out in particular to Barclay. It is, as he said, the multicultural social and spiritual customs that have been brought by people all over the world to Penang.
“Although these customs may have faded in their places of origin, I appreciate how these practices live on and thrive on this island,” said Barclay.
He then recalled a chilling first-hand encounter he had 50 years ago with a spiritual force, shortly after arriving on Penang’s grounds.
“One of the unusual aspects of Penang became obvious to me the moment I was about to enter my in-laws’ house in Rangoon Road,” said Barclay.
Upon crossing into the threshold of his in-laws’ property, Barclay was met with warm welcomes from three different people, but these warm welcomes quickly turned cold and eerie – for he could only see one person physically standing before him.
“Three family spirits came to me, one after another and into the woman who had been with the family for years,” explained Barclay.
Still believing that what he saw and heard 50 years ago were the spirits of his late wife’s family members, Barclay described the strange sight to FMT.
The woman who had greeted him was the family’s worker from Ranong, Thailand. She spoke fluent Pak Thai and Hokkien, but very little English.
However, right in front of his eyes, the unimaginable happened.
Caught in a trance, the female worker was suddenly switching languages – from traditional Thai to fluent English.
“When the family’s guardian spirit entered her she would speak in a gruff and thick Thai and then as my late wife’s grandma came, she spoke in Phuket dialect.
“Finally, when it was my late father-in-law’s ‘turn’, who was an Old Free, she then spoke good English.”
When asked if he remembered anything that was said by the woman, Barclay said that it was nearly 50 years ago and laughed, adding that he doesn’t speak Thai.
“It was all a bit of a shock so I didn’t really understand what was happening until much later.
“There were other experiences with the spirit world after that encounter with my late wife’s ancestors, and I came to think that such encounters were unique to this part of the world.”
On top of being an artistic man with intriguing – and supernatural – stories, even the name ‘Barclay’ has its own story to tell, as his bloodline ties him to the famous Barclay Bank family.
“My great-great-grandfather was Joseph Gurney Barclay, a Quaker banker who combined the family bank with several other Quaker banks to make Barclay one of the biggest banks in the world.
“However, by my grandfather’s time, the bank had been passed to others and so had the wealth.”
In fact, Will grew up on a farm in the English countryside, away from the banking world, and his quiet farm life then led him to discovering and falling in love with art.
“Before every house had a TV, drawing was one of the ways to pass family evenings. And at school it was also a way for a dyslexic boy like me to earn some recognition,” said Barclay.
Now routinely picking up his pens and pencils, Barclay has reawakened his passion for art and strongly believes that it’s never too late to continue where one last left off.
While he mostly does it to document interesting sights, people and memories, Barclay sometimes dedicates his art to friends and family members.
As someone who has had a lifetime of adventures and amassed incredible stories to tell, Barclay’s advice to readers is kept simple, as he said, “Do something real and make real things. Have real adventures.”