Benjamin Redding Email & Phone Number

My research is led by a passion for all things related to the sea and military enterprise c. 1500-1800. I am particularly interested in how the cultural, political, and military spheres overlap. My publications have explored the rise and decline of navies, nation, state, and empire building, identity formation, international relations, the social and cultural historians of seamen.I have convened and taught on a large number of undergraduate and postgraduate courses, covering a range of topics from the medieval to modern periods, as well as on various skills based modules. Additionally, I have supervised undergraduate and postgraduate dissertations and PhD students. I also sit on several committees including the British Commission for Maritime History and the Naval Records Society.Since 2019, I have supported the finders of the Gloucester shipwreck (lost in 1682 off Norfolk and rediscovered in 2007) and wider team by researching the warship’s complex history. My current work is funded by a major research grant from the Leverhulme Trust (2021-24). I am currently writing a monograph (co-authored by Professor Claire Jowitt) which will provide the first cradle-to-grave history of the Gloucester (1654-82). I was also a curator of the landmark exhibition ‘The Last Voyage of the Gloucester: Norfolk’s Royal Shipwreck’ held at Norwich Castle Museum from February to September 2023, which attracted 70,000 visitors. As part of the announcement of the finding of the Gloucester shipwreck, I featured on global, national, and local news, including The New York Times, BBC World Service, and BBC Look East.My book The English and French Navies, 1500-1650: Expansion, Organization and State-Building, published by Boydell & Brewer in January 2022, traced the advances and deterioration of the early modern English and French sea forces and relates these changes to concurrent developments within the respective states. My recent article 'The Western Design Revised: Death, Dissent, and Discontent on the Gloucester, 1654-1656' has been published open access in The Historical Journal. This new research explores the warship Gloucester's early career in the Caribbean, when it was involved in a major expedition to Barbados, Hispaniola, Jamaica, and Colombia. Other publications have focused on topics including warship decoration and design, and the interconnected histories and competitive designs of the Caroline warship The Sovereign of the Seas and its French counterpart La Couronne.

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  University Of Warwick

  History