Persona

Farmer, David Leighton, 1932-1994

David Leighton Farmer was born 3 October 1932 in Plymouth, England. He won a scholarship to Exeter College, and by the age 25 had earned both his BA (1954) and DPhil (1958) from Oxford University. From 1958 to 1970 he taught at various schools in Scotland and England, prior to accepting a position in the Department of History at St. Thomas More College, University of Saskatchewan, in 1970. Farmer specialized in Medieval History, particularly the history of agriculture, prices, and marketing in England during the Middle Ages. Given his area of academic specialization, Farmer occasionally cautioned that he worked "in academic isolation" in Saskatchewan; however, his work has been characterized as "seminal;" "essential reading for anyone hoping to understand the medieval English economy and [likely to] remain classic reference articles for decades to come." In addition to several articles and papers, Farmer also contributed three chapters to The Agrarian History of England and Wales, published Britain and the Stuarts, 1603-1714, and co-authored a textbook, Exploring Our Roots. Farmer organized and taught the first University of Saskatchewan class given outside of Canada (at Oxford); served for many years as Head of the STM Department of History; and was a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society. He died suddenly at his home on 26 August 1994.