Editor, journalist and author of a number of published histories of the late 1700s, most notably Discovery at Rosetta (Constable), the first full investigative account of the British acquisition of the Rosetta Stone in 1801, as well as The Industrial Revolution 1770-1810 (Shire 2011) and prime-source miltary memoirs. He has consulted for the National Trust and his work has been cited in the Britannica Online and Wikipedia. He edited a specialist collectors’ and military history journal, and wrote for the UK's History Today  magazine, covering the Arab Spring and Cairo riots, and their impact on the antiqiuities repatriation debate.

He has given university lectures and seminars on Napoleon’s invasion of Egypt, in particular the discovery, seizure and controversy surrounding the Rosetta Stone.  An authority on the French surrender in Egypt, he is an advocate for the repatriation of antiquities.  

Jonathan was born in Britain, raised in Canada, and now lives in Cape Town, in South Africa.