Nicholas Rodger - Life and Academia

Life and Academia

The son of Lieutenant Commander Ian Alexander Rodger, Royal Navy, of Arundel, Sussex, and Sara Mary, née Perceval, Rodger was educated at Ampleforth College and University College, Oxford, where he earned his D.Phil. degree in 1974 with a thesis on "Naval policy and cruiser design, 1865-1890". He served for seventeen years at the Public Record Office 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 Navy Records Society and the Society for Nautical Research. The Museum gave him the title of Anderson Senior Research Fellow, 1992-1998. In 1999, he moved to the University of Exeter 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 Navy Records Society from 1976-1990. He is also a member of the Society of Antiquaries of London (1985) and a Fellow of the Royal Historical Society (1980). He was elected as a Fellow of the British Academy in 2003.

He is married and has four children: Ellen, Kit (Christopher), Sandy (Alexander) and Crispian.

Nicholas and his wife Susan are life-long members of the Emmanuel Community, founded in France. They are formerly leaders of this Catholic movement in England.