Rock and Oak: A new naval history of Gibraltar, 1779-1830
Scott Daly
Abstract
Gibraltar’s historiography has traditionally placed great importance on its capability
as a ‘fortress’. Besieged fourteen times in its history, and visibly brimming with
fortifications to modern observers, military terminology has consequently
dominated approaches to its history. But as a territory almost entirely surrounded
by water, the Royal Navy - Britain’s traditional ‘safeguard’ - played an integral role
in securing ‘the Rock’ as a British possession.
Intersecting the naval, Gibraltarian and imperial historiographical fields, this thesis
aims to challenge the dominant conceptualisation of Gibraltar as an insular,
strategic fortress dominated by its military garrison. Methodologically incorporating
the new cultural and social approaches to naval history, employed by historians
such as Timothy Jenks and Margarette Lincoln, it builds upon previous histories by
engaging more closely with the lived experience of its inhabitants. Gibraltar’s
involvement in the success of Trafalgar is well appreciated, but the navy’s activities
impacted its population much more regularly and in ways more complex than has
been recognised within Gibraltarian historiography.
Moreover, it also assesses how Gibraltar was more broadly viewed by Britons
through a consultation of various forms of literary and visual culture. The ‘Great
Siege’ of 1779-83 through to the end of the Napoleonic era is a crucial period in the
historiographies of the ‘Rock’ and the ‘wooden walls’ of the Royal Navy that were
so integral to constructions of British identity. Jenks argued that ‘naval symbols’
were increasingly important in British political culture during this period. This thesis
contends that the acceptance and understanding of Gibraltar’s status as a ‘naval
symbol’ was crucial to its conceptualisation as a British possession in the post-
Napoleonic era
https://eprints.soton.ac.uk/469020/1/ScottDalyPHDROCK_OAK2022final.pdf