Leonard Knight Elmhirst

Leonard Knight Elmhirst (June 6, 1893 — April 16, 1974) was an agronomist who worked extensively in India. With his wife Dorothy, Elmhirst cofounded the Dartington Hall project in progressive education and rural reconstruction.

Elmhirst served in the YMCA during World War I, because he failed his army physical. He then studied agriculture at Cornell University, which at the time had a small YMCA building but lacked a student union building. Elmhurst worked with a student committee to find donors to fund such a needed building, and contacted Dorothy Straight who had been recently widowed by the death of her husband Willard Straight in the War. They eventually married, and Dorothy donated the funds to build Willard Straight Hall. One room in that building is named for Elmhirst.