Tim Rooth was born on 9 October 1939 and educated at Hurstpierpoint College in Sussex. He went on to study economics at the University of Hull and, after training as a teacher in Birmingham, taught at Lewes College.

In 1967, he joined what was then the Portsmouth College of Technology as a lecturer in economic history. He was to remain there until he retired as emeritus professor in 2005 (though the institution had become the University of Portsmouth in 1992), having acquired a PhD in international economic history at Hull (1984) along the way.

Even before entering university, Professor Rooth had spent time in Canada, working in a Toronto bank – where he was once asked to guard a safe with an ancient revolver, which he managed to fire by mistake – and then as a fitter in a gold mine in the Northwest Territories. Canada, finance and indeed firearms would all find a place in his subsequent research and writing career.

At the heart of Professor Rooth’s research was British international economic diplomacy, and particularly Anglo-Canadian trade negotiations. Along with many journal articles, this culminated in a definitive study of the aftermath of the 1931 sterling crisis, British Protectionism and the International Economy: Overseas Commercial Policy in the 1930s (1993).

51³Ô¹Ï

Through forensic analysis of archive material, he was able to demonstrate the sheer complexity and effort required to negotiate trade agreements, which seldom go according to plan – an analysis that remains highly topical in the light of the global deals Britain is now seeking as a result of Brexit.

As well as serving as president of the British Association of Canadian Studies, for which he edited a volume for its 40th anniversary, titled Canadian Studies in Britain 1970-2010: An Assessment in the Context of a Changing World, Professor Rooth was a founding member and president of the Chichester Society. He once staged a sit-in in a tree to protest against planned developments there and wrote a book called Saving Our City: The Chichester Society in the 1970s (2015).

51³Ô¹Ï

Even more unusual was the account he edited with Alexander Hallawell of a lawyer who fled to Portugal after getting into a fight after a concert, published as Bristol 1809 – A Fatal Duel, the Fugitive’s Story in 2013.

A committed and inspiring teacher, Professor Rooth continued to come into the university and to remain active as a scholar well after retirement. He died on 2 January and is survived by his wife Iris, a daughter and a grandson.

matthew.reisz@tesglobal.com