Leonard Knight Elmhirst FRSA (6 June 1893 – 16 April 1974) was a British philanthropist and agronomist who worked extensively in India.

In 1912 Leonard Elmhirst went up to Trinity College, Cambridge, to study history and theology, intending to follow his father into the Church.

[3] In 1920 he was elected president of Cornell's Cosmopolitan Club, which was mostly for foreign students, and found that it had large debts and depended on the philanthropy of its alumni and others.

In 1922, in the village of Surul (of which Sriniketan is a part) adjacent to Santiniketan, West Bengal, he set up for Tagore an Institute of Rural Reconstruction.

Between 1923 and 1925, Leonard travelled twice around the globe, lecturing and supporting Rabindranath Tagore's missions to Europe, Asia and South America.

[3] The influence of Tagore, and the interests and money of his wife to be, led Elmhirst to undertake an experiment in rural reconstruction at Dartington Hall in Devon.

It is said that Tagore had become familiar with Dartington during his travels in England and influenced Elmhirst in his selection of the estate, which was purchased in a series of transactions in 1925.