British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship awarded to University of Lincoln academic

Dr Jon Fitzgibbons, Senior Lecturer in Early Modern History, has been awarded a British Academy Mid-Career Fellowship for 2024 – 2025.

His project, titled ’Remembering the British Civil Wars and Understanding the Dynamics of Early Modern Memory’ was identified by the research committee as “one of outstanding quality and originality”.

Below is an outline of the project:

Dr Fitzgibbons’ project re-examines the legacy of Bulstrode Whitelocke, a Parliamentarian lawyer and MP whose post-Restoration memoirs have long shaped understandings of the English Civil War and its aftermath. Although celebrated for their vivid accounts and high-profile conversations – with figures like Charles I and Oliver Cromwell – these memoirs were written after the Restoration of 1660, raising longstanding suspicions that they were influenced by Whitelocke’s precarious political position under the returning monarchy.

The project centres on a neglected manuscript of Whitelocke’s memoirs, drafted during Richard Cromwell’s short rule (1658–59) but later heavily edited and obscured by Whitelocke himself. Thanks to reflected infrared photography and a previous British Academy Small Research Grant, these deleted sections have now been recovered.

By transcribing and publishing this early version, the project reveals Whitelocke’s original, more republican-leaning views—far less monarchist than his post-1660 account suggests.

By bringing to light this ‘lost’ version of the memoirs, the project will demand a rethink of many of the historical narratives previously built upon Whitelocke’s famous post-1660 writings. More broadly it will allow detailed exploration of the dynamic nature of memory in response to shifting political and personal circumstances.

Dr Fitzgibbons said “I’m very excited to make a start on this project and will spend the 12-month fellowship transcribing and editing the text of the memoirs for publication, as well as writing several scholarly articles that explain its significance for both our understanding of the English Civil Wars and the broader question of early modern memory.

I am also looking to engage public audiences through talks and workshops, as well as developing educational sessions and materials for schools on the memoirs in collaboration with several local and national museums and organisations.”

More details of the award can be found here: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/mid-career-fellowships/past-awards/mid-career-fellowships-2024-awards/

For details on the Mid-Career Fellowship scheme, visit: https://www.thebritishacademy.ac.uk/funding/mid-career-fellowships/