The Historian 170: Disability

The magazine of the Historical Association

Published: 4th August 2026

In this edition of The Historian

Please note: print copies of this edition will start arriving with members from 11 August. Links to individual articles will be added to this page shortly.

4 Letters

5 Editorial (Read article)

6 Disability history – Daniel Blackie and Alexia Moncrieff

10 Deaf marriages and sign language recognition – Rosamund Oates

16 Thinking with disability: mapping a disability history perspective onto the history of the British Empire – Esme Cleall

22 ‘I am your most troublesome pauper’: disability and the New Poor Law – Carol Beardmore

30 Broken bodies and racial lessons: disabled Wehrmacht veterans in Nazi Germany – Christopher Thomas Goodwin

34 News – Disability matters: new directions for the discipline of history

36 Real lives: ‘Children couldn’t have been treated like that’: important lessons from the childhood experiences of Harry Drabble – Helen Parker-Drabble

39 In conversation with David Turner

44 The ‘Real Boxers at Earls Court’: relief and resistance in Imre Kiralfy’s siege of Peking (1901) – Robert Brown

50 Jeeves and the British Empire – Sean Lang

55 Talleyrand and the French Revolution – William Doyle

60 Doing history: Exploring behind the scenes in the corridors of power: visiting The National Archives – Steve Illingworth

63 Out and about: The Witney Blanket Mills: a short history – Isabella Duncan

66 Reviews

Regular features: Access all past editions of our regular features including Real Lives, Out & About, Doing History and In Conversation With...

Cover image: A Japanese woodcut by K. Hokusai thought to be from the mid-nineteenth century depicting ‘blind men fording a stream’. Wellcome Collection, public domain

Contributions to The Historian: Contributions are welcomed for consideration for possible publication but the HA cannot accept responsibility for unsolicited manuscripts nor guarantee publication. All enquiries should be sent initially to the Historical Association, 59a Kennington Park Road, London SE11 4JH or email us at: thehistorian@history.org.uk. The publication of a contribution by the HA does not necessarily imply the Association’s approval of the opinions expressed in it. 

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