Background
Barker was born in Street Helens, Lancashire, England on 19 July 1923.
Barker was born in Street Helens, Lancashire, England on 19 July 1923.
After schooling in the area, he studied at the University of Oxford, obtaining a first-class degree in Modern History from Jesus College, Oxford in 1948.
He obtained a doctorate from the University of Manchester in 1951, on the 19th century history of Street Helens. This led to his first book, co-written with a school contemporary, John Harris, who had been researching Street 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 for 1 year, Barker taught at the London School of Economics between 1953 and 1964, when he became Professor of Economic and Social History at the newly established University of Kent.
In 1976, he returned to the London School of Economics and retired in 1983. He died on 22 November 2001.