Editor, journalist and history writer, Jonathan  Downs is author of Life in the Industrial Revolution 1770-1809, Discovery at Rosetta—the first full account of the British acquisition of the Rosetta Stone in 1801—and co-author of Sea-Soldier: The Letters and Journals of Maj T. M. Wybourn, RM, 1797-1813.  He edits Classic Arms, a specialist collectors’ and military history journal, and has written a number of articles in the press and periodicals including History Today. He is actively trying to encourage diplomatic talks between Britain, France and Egypt concerning the repatriation of the Rosetta Stone to its native land.

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.