Scotch Modern.

modern meaning “Classical modernity: 1789–1900” or meaning “contemporary”?

Hi, more contemporary. I am looking for something from 1900-present

and something that isn't Gill Sans.

Take a look at Paul Barnes’s, Dave Farey’s, and Jeremy Tankard’s typefaces. They feel very English to me. And what about Matthew Carter’s?

You're definitely looking for a serif, then?

> SCOTCH Modern

HAA!! ;-)

I must’ve misread “English” for “British”, my bad ;-)

The “Scotch” types were cut by an Englishman, Richard Austin.
First in Scotland, then in the UK for his own Imperial Foundry.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Richard_Austin_(punchcutter)

Commercial’s Austin:
http://commercialtype.com/typefaces/austin/austin/roman

Shinntype’s Scotch Modern:
http://www.myfonts.com/fonts/shinn/scotch-modern/

For the 20th century, there is too much to choose from with so broad a brief as “Modern English”

What in the world is an "English" typeface? You mean the copies people made of Jenson's work? Or the typefaces based on the textura or German blackletter? (that is to say, none of those are truly "English") And who in the world would know the difference besides maybe some of us here? Certainly not anyone's clients. Just throw a Union Jack on the page somewhere. Bingo, now its English.

You mean the copies people made of Jenson's work?

You don’t have to be “some of us here” to see that Morris’ Golden Type ain’t no Jenson copy.

Wait, I think I got it. The English typefaces are the ones with the bad teeth!

http://www.foundrytypes.co.uk/

I always thought that a British typeface was one that sounded as plummy as a BBC presenter.

A British font has more 'u' sorts than an American one.

http://www.daltonmaag.com/

So would the American typefaces all be overweight?

Times New Roman is English, of course, designed for the London Times by Monotype's Victor Lardent in 1931 under the direction of Stanley Morison.
Was Gill Sans ruled out for design reasons, or in protest of Eric Gill's debauched private life? If you can use something else by Gill, Perpetua (from the late 1920s) is very nice. It, too, was designed at the instigation of Stanley Morison.