Nicholas Andrew Martin Rodger FSA

FRHistS The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

FBA (born 12 November 1949) is a historian of the

Royal Navy The Royal Navy (RN) is the United Kingdom's naval warfare force. Although warships were used by English and Scottish kings from the early medieval period, the first major maritime engagements were fought in the Hundred Years' War against ...

and senior research fellow of All Souls College, Oxford.

Life and academia

The son of

Lieutenant Commander Lieutenant commander (also hyphenated lieutenant-commander and abbreviated Lt Cdr, LtCdr. or LCDR) is a commissioned officer rank in many navies. The rank is superior to a lieutenant and subordinate to a commander. The corresponding ran ...

Ian Alexander Rodger, Royal Navy, of Arundel, Sussex, and Sara Mary, née Perceval, Rodger was educated at

Ampleforth College Ampleforth College is a co-educational independent day and boarding school in the English public school tradition located in the village of Ampleforth, North Yorkshire, England. It opened in 1802 as a boys' school, it is situated in the groun ...

and

University College, Oxford University College (in full The College of the Great Hall of the University of Oxford, colloquially referred to as "Univ") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. It has a claim to being the oldest college of the unive ...

, where he earned his D.Phil. degree in 1974 with a thesis titled ''Naval policy and cruiser design, 1865–1890''. He served for seventeen years at the

Public Record Office The Public Record Office (abbreviated as PRO, pronounced as three letters and referred to as ''the'' PRO), Chancery Lane in the City of London, was the guardian of the national archives of the United Kingdom from 1838 until 2003, when it was ...

as an assistant keeper of public records, 1974–1991. After resigning from the public service, he began a Naval History of Britain with the support of the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unite ...

, the

Navy Records Society The Navy Records Society was established in 1893 as a scholarly text publication society to publish historical documents relating to the history of the Royal Navy. Professor Sir John Knox Laughton and Admiral Sir Cyprian Bridge were the key lea ...

and the

Society for Nautical Research The Society for Nautical Research is a British society that conducts research and sponsors projects related to maritime history worldwide. Founded in 1910, the Society initially encouraged research into seafaring, ship-building, the language and ...

. The museum gave him the title of Anderson Senior Research Fellow, 1992–1998. In 1999, he moved to the

University of Exeter , mottoeng = "We Follow the Light" , established = 1838 - St Luke's College1855 - Exeter School of Art1863 - Exeter School of Science 1955 - University of Exeter (received royal charter) , type = Public , ...

as senior lecturer, and the following year was appointed professor of naval history. In 2007, he was elected a senior research fellow of All Souls College, Oxford. He served as honorary secretary of the

from 1976 to 1990. He is also a member and fellow of the

Society of Antiquaries of London A society is a group of individuals involved in persistent social interaction, or a large social group sharing the same spatial or social territory, typically subject to the same political authority and dominant cultural expectations. Soci ...

(1985) and a fellow of the

Royal Historical Society The Royal Historical Society, founded in 1868, is a learned society of the United Kingdom which advances scholarly studies of history. Origins The society was founded and received its royal charter in 1868. Until 1872 it was known as the Histori ...

(1980). He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003. In 2015 he made a fellow of the

Awards and honours

He is engaged in writing a comprehensive treatise of British naval history. The first two volumes, ''Safeguard of the Sea'' and ''Command of the Ocean'', have been critically acclaimed. He has been awarded the Julian Corbett Prize in Naval History. His book ''The Admiralty'' was chosen by the US Naval Institute as one of the best books of the 1980s. He received the Duke of Westminster's Medal for Military Literature in 2005 and was also the winner of the 2005

British Academy Book Prize The British Academy Book Prize was an annual book award held by the British Academy in the period from 2000 and 2005. Eligible titles were those covering areas of the humanities and social sciences. Winners * 2001 Rees Davies for ''The First Engl ...

. In 2011, he was named the first Hattendorf Prize Laureate.

Major works

Include: *''The Admiralty'' (1979) *''Articles of War : the Statutes which Governed Our Fighting Navies, 1661, 1749, and 1886'' (1982) *''The Naval Miscellany, vol 5'' Navy Records Society (1983) *''The Wooden World: an Anatomy of the Georgian Navy'' (1986) *''Naval Records for Genealogists'' (1984, 1988, 1998) *''The Armada in the Public Records'' (1988) *''Navies and Armies: the Anglo-Dutch relationship in War and Peace 1688–1988'' eds. G. J. A. Raven & N. A. M. Rodger; assist ed. M. C. F. van Drunen (1990) *''The Insatiable Earl: a Life of John Montagu, Fourth Earl of Sandwich, 1718–1792'' (1993) *''British Naval Documents 1204–1960'' eds. J. B. Hattendorf, R.J.B. Knight, A. W. H. Pearsall, N. A. M. Rodger, G. Till, Capt. A. B. Sainsbury, Navy Records Society (1993) *''Naval Power in the Twentieth Century'' (1996) *''The Safeguard of the Sea: a Naval History of Britain, Volume 1, 660–1649'' (1997) *''The Command of the Ocean: a Naval History of Britain, Volume 2, 1649–1815'' (2004) *''A Guide to the Naval Records in the National Archives of the UK'', ed. by Randolph Cock and N. A. M. Rodger (2006) *''Essays in Naval History, from Medieval to Modern'' (2009) *''Strategy and the Sea: Essays in Honour of John B. Hattendorf'', ed. by N.A.M. Rodger, J. Ross Dancy, Benjamin Darnell, and Evan Wilson (2016)

References

External links

Fellows – Rodger, NicholasFellows - Society for Nautical Research
{{DEFAULTSORT:Rodger, Nicholas English naval historians 1949 births Living people British naval historians People educated at Ampleforth College Alumni of University College, Oxford Academics of the University of Exeter Fellows of All Souls College, Oxford Fellows of the Royal Historical Society Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London Fellows of the British Academy English archivists British maritime historians