Theodore Cardwell Barker (19 July 1923 – 22 November 2001), usually known asTheo Barker, was a Britishsocial andeconomic historian.

Barker was born inSt Helens, Lancashire, England on 19 July 1923. After schooling in the area, he studied at theUniversity of Oxford, obtaining a first-class degree inModern History fromJesus College, Oxford in 1948. He obtained a doctorate from theUniversity of Manchester 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 theUniversity of Aberdeen for 1 year, Barker taught at theLondon School of Economics between 1953 and 1964, when he became Professor of Economic and Social History at the newly establishedUniversity of Kent. In 1976, he returned to the LSE and retired in 1983. He died on 22 November 2001.^[1]

His work on the history of St Helens led to his researching the history ofPilkington Glass, which was based in the town. He publishedPilkington Brothers And The Glass Industry in 1960. He was also interested in transport history, co-authoringA 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 includedThe Transport Contractors Of Rye (1982) andThe Rise And Rise of Road Transport, 1600–1990 (1993). He wrote histories of theWorshipful Company of Carpenters andWorshipful Company of Pewterers 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 aFellow of the British Academy.^[1]

• 1923 births
• 2001 deaths
• British economic historians
• British 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
• 20th-century English male writers
• English male non-fiction writers

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