William Swinden Barber FRIBA, also W. S. Barber or W. Swinden Barber, was an English Gothic Revival and Arts and Crafts architect, specialising in modest but finely furnished Anglican churches, often with crenellated bell-towers. He was based in Brighouse and Halifax in the West Riding of Yorkshire. At least 15 surviving examples of his work are Grade II listed buildings, including his 1875 design for the Victoria Cross at Akroydon, Halifax. An 1864 portrait by David Wilkie Wynfield depicts him in Romantic garb, holding a flower. He served in the Artists Rifles regiment in the 1860s alongside Wynfield and other contemporary artists.

Southowram is a village and former civil parish in Calderdale, West Yorkshire, England. It stands on hill top between Halifax and Brighouse, on the south side of the Shibden Valley. Northowram is on the northern side of the valley. Southowram falls within the Town ward of Calderdale Council. The village is included within the Halifax built-up area as defined by the Office for National Statistics.