Vic Gatrell

Vic Gatrell is a prize-winning social historian specializing in eighteenth- and nineteenth-century Britain. A Life Fellow of Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, his acclaimed works have earned prestigious awards, including the Wolfson Prize, the Whitfield Prize of the Royal Historical Society, and the Hessell-Tiltman Prize from English PEN. His scholarship has also been shortlisted for the Duff Cooper Prize, the Johnson Prize for Non-Fiction, and the Banister Fletcher Award for Art History.

Born in South Africa to working-class immigrant parents from London, Gatrell attended state schools before earning an Elsie Ballot scholarship to Rhodes University. He later pursued his studies at St John's College, Cambridge, where he achieved first-class honors in History and completed his Ph.D. After joining Gonville and Caius College as a teaching fellow, he became a Faculty Lecturer and Reader in British Social History. He served as Professor of British History at the University of Essex from 2003 to 2009 but has resided in Cambridge since 1962. Gatrell's research often explores themes of urban life, crime, and visual culture in Georgian and Victorian Britain.

Throughout his career, Gatrell has combined rigorous historical analysis with accessible prose, making his work influential among both academic and general audiences. His contributions to British social history continue to shape scholarly discussions on class, politics, and cultural change in the modern era.