Dr Daniel Gosling

About

Dan is an archivist and historian, specialising in the records created and received by the central law courts, from 1450–1800. His research interests are as wide-ranging as the legal records he works on, including gender identity in 18th-century King’s Bench records, the deeds and disputes of the Elizabethan Jacobean Bear Garden in Southwark, and the development of the Equity Court of Chancery in the 15th century.

Dan’s work includes improving the accessibility and visibility of The National Archives’ legal collections through cataloguing and document workshops. He was a curator of The National Archives’ 2022–2023 exhibition Treason: People, Power & Plot and co-author of the accompanying book, A History of Treason, contributing chapters on Anne Boleyn, the gunpowder plotters, the execution of Charles I, and treason in the American Revolution.

Research activity

Dan was previously Chair of History Lab, the national network for postgraduate students in history and related disciplines, based at the Institute of Historical Research in London. He currently sits on the councils of the British Record Society and List & Index Society, is a fellow of the Royal Historical Society, and a member of the Selden Society.

In 2025, Dan discovered a Shakespeare record in an unlisted box of Chancery deeds.

Dan’s recent research includes analysing the legal records relating to the Bear Garden in Elizabethan and Jacobean Southwark, the court of Star Chamber, and writ development in the late medieval period. He supervised the Arts and Humanities Research Council Collaborative Doctoral Partnership ‘Prosecuting Piracy in Peacetime: Crime, Empire, and the High Court of Admiralty, 1607-1618‘ (The National Archives & University of Reading; 2020-2024), working with Jacobean High Court of Admiralty Depositions, and currently supervises another AHRC-funded studentship examining the Court of Chancery during the interregnum.