Theodore Cardwell Barker (19 July 1923 – 22 November 2001), usually known as Theo Barker, was a British social and economic historian.

Life

Barker was born in

St Helens, Lancashire St Helens () is a town in Merseyside, England, with a population of 102,629. It is the administrative centre of the Metropolitan Borough of St Helens, which had a population of 176,843 at the United Kingdom Census 2001, 2001 Census. St Helens i ...

, England on 19 July 1923. After schooling in the area, he studied at the

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

, obtaining a first-class degree in

Modern History The term modern period or modern era (sometimes also called modern history or modern times) is the period of history that succeeds the Middle Ages (which ended approximately 1500 AD). This terminology is a historical periodization that is applie ...

from

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

in 1948. He obtained a doctorate from the

University of Manchester , mottoeng = Knowledge, Wisdom, Humanity , established = 2004 – University of Manchester Predecessor institutions: 1956 – UMIST (as university college; university 1994) 1904 – Victoria University of Manchester 1880 – Victoria Univer ...

in 1951, on the 19th century history of St Helens. This led to his first book, co-written with a school contemporary, John Harris, who had been researching St Helens in the 18th century. ''A Merseyside Town in the Industrial Revolution'' (1954) was influential in the emerging field of urban history. After teaching at the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

for 1 year, Barker taught at the

London School of Economics , mottoeng = To understand the causes of things , established = , type = Public research university , endowment = £240.8 million (2021) , budget = £391.1 millio ...

between 1953 and 1964, when he became Professor of Economic and Social History at the newly established

University of Kent , motto_lang = , mottoeng = Literal translation: 'Whom to serve is to reign'(Book of Common Prayer translation: 'whose service is perfect freedom')Graham Martin, ''From Vision to Reality: the Making of the University of Kent at Canterbury'' ...

. In 1976, he returned to the LSE and retired in 1983. He died on 22 November 2001.

Works

His work on the history of St Helens led to his researching the history of

Pilkington Glass Pilkington is a Japanese-owned glass-manufacturing company which is based in Lathom, Lancashire, United Kingdom. In the UK it includes several legal entities and is a subsidiary of Japanese company NSG Group. Prior to its acquisition by NSG ...

, which was based in the town. He published ''Pilkington Brothers And The Glass Industry'' in 1960. He was also interested in transport history, co-authoring ''A History Of London Transport: The 19th Century'' (1963), and contributing extensively to the 1974 volume about the 20th century. This interest led to him becoming chairman of the Transport History Research Trust. Other writings on related topics included ''The Transport Contractors Of Rye'' (1982) and ''The Rise And Rise of Road Transport, 1600–1990'' (1993). He wrote histories of the

Worshipful Company of Carpenters The Worshipful Company of Carpenters is a livery company of the City of London. The Carpenters were traditionally different from a fellow wood-crafting company, the Worshipful Company of Joiners and Ceilers, in that carpenters utilised nails wh ...

and

Worshipful Company of Pewterers The Worshipful Company of Pewterers is one of the 110 Livery Companies of the City of London. It ranks 16th in the order of precedence of City Livery Companies and has existed since at least 1348. Like all the other City Livery Companies, the ...

in 1968 and 1974 respectively. He served as president of the Railway and Canal Historical Society, as founding chairman of the Oral History Society and as secretary and then chairman of the British National Committee of Historians. He was not, however (despite his wishes), elected as a

Fellow of the British Academy Fellowship of the British Academy (FBA) is an award granted by the British Academy to leading academics for their distinction in the humanities and social sciences. The categories are: # Fellows – scholars resident in the United Kingdom # C ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Barker, Theo 1923 births 2001 deaths Economic historians Social historians Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Manchester Academics of the University of Aberdeen Academics of the London School of Economics Academics of the University of Kent 20th-century English historians