David Thornton

David Thornton was born in Leeds, was educated there and spent his professional life in the city where he still lives. He was headmaster of Royal Park and Holt Park Middle Schools and spent thirty years writing children’s educational material and self publishing a wide range of children’s historical picture-story booklets. Since his retirement he has followed his passion for local history, lecturing on the history of Leeds for Park Lane College and the Workers’ Educational Association and becoming the joint editor of the Thoresby Society – the Leeds Historical Society, was responsible for the society’s annual academic publications. It was a position he held from 2001 to 2015. For forty years he has lectured on various aspects of the history of Leeds to local groups in the West Yorkshire area. He holds the degrees of MPhil and PhD from the University of Leeds, having written his theses on the philosophy and biography of Edward Baines the editor of the Leeds Mercury. He then concentrated on producing a series of local history books aimed at the general public.

For a hobby he enjoys oil painting and pen and ink drawing. For twenty-two years, from its inception in 1975, he was editor of Leeds Cassette, a magazine produced in the city by the Leeds Talking Magazine for the Blind Association for people who were registered visually handicapped. He became its president in 2004. He is married with four children, four grandchildren and one great grandchild.