⚓️ Naval medicine at sea 🔓️
In our newest issue of the BJHS, Manon Williams explores post-mortem practices in the Royal Navy during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars—showing how surgeons contributed to medical research onboard.
More in the latest BJHS:
My article about post-mortem examinations on naval ships has been published in the newest issue of the British Journal for the History of Science! Available Open Access from @universitypress.cambridge.org and @bshsnews.bsky.social here: doi.org/10.1017/S000...
#navalhistory #histmed #histsci
In the article, we explain how we built the visualisation of historical student records - and what we discovered about colonial connections (to the Atlantic world, and especially to British India) when we did so: doi.org/10.1080/0046...
📣Bookings now open!
👉Celebrating 50 years of the Social History Society with our 'Festival of Social History' @ihr.bsky.social
Panels, zine-making stall, tours, lunch, a roundtable, & keynote by Naomi Tadmor
📅 24 Apr 2026
💷 from £10 for members
All welcome!
socialhistory.org.uk/events/festi...
wp.me/p9nqgh-3ly
Thank you to Richard DeGrijs for his latest Health and Sea/Maritime Medicine article.
I love the moose!
A good point, of course! I suppose it depends on both the project whether its impact would be best curated in book form or in public/community engagement. I just wish that the latter was seen as an acceptable primary output for a project, rather than just an add on to a book-project.
An interesting read about how historians tend to think about projects as ‘books’. I’ve recently been wondering how we can forefront impact or public engagement outputs as project goals, rather than monographs (…though admittedly less helpful on the job market).
👀Funding available for #Humanities research and engagement.
It was such a nice surprise to see you there!
A painting of a soldier with brown hair. He is standing up and is shirtless and is resting his right hand on his head. There are two gunshot wounds visible on his torso.
The Battle of Corunna took place #OTD in 1809. Civilian surgeon Charles Bell volunteered to treat wounded soldiers returning to Britain. He later created these artworks which he used for teaching. Some of these artworks can be seen in our Wohl Pathology Museum.
Ah, that’s too bad — thanks for reposting though!
Come hear me talk about my beloved naval surgeons on 29 January at KCL’s Maritime History Seminar!
I’ll be speaking about my PhD research along with some important updates, newly-discovered from the archives during my Caird Fellowship at Royal Museums Greenwich.
www.kcl.ac.uk/events/naval...
I’m glad you’re getting some enjoyment from it! They are a large and messy series, but well worth a gander (I’m biased).
If you haven’t found them already, here are the volumes that have been digitised: webarchive.nationalarchives.gov.uk/ukgwa/202308...
Let me know if you have any questions!
If your son is interested in Maturin’s character (as the ship surgeon), the surgeon’s logbooks have been more heavily catalogued and some even digitised from 1793. You’ll have to look through series ADM 101 in the TNA catalogue. I’ve been through those extensively so feel free to ask me questions!
Thank you — very kind of you to share!
Thank you Dave!
If your work engages with naval and maritime history, art, and culture, do consider applying. Next year’s application is open now until 18 January 2026: www.rmg.co.uk/collections/.... Feel free to reach out to me if you have any questions about my research or the fellowship.
This year, as a Caird Research Fellow at Royal Museums Greenwich, I developed a new research project on occupational health, disability, and welfare in the British Royal Navy during the French Wars (1793–1815). Read some of my preliminary findings here: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/mari....
This year, as a Caird Research Fellow at Royal Museums Greenwich, I developed a new research project on occupational health, disability, and welfare in the British Royal Navy during the French Wars (1793–1815). Read some of my preliminary findings here: www.rmg.co.uk/stories/mari....
Black and White photo of a woman pushing someone in a wheelchair below the text Disability History Month.
20 November to 20 December is UK Disability History Month. Here at the IHR we have been relaunching our collection guides including our Disability History guide: buff.ly/zXSqTKe
CfP: Marginal Militaries: Navigating Historical Boundaries, Differences and Experiences at the Military Periphery From enslaved soldiers in republican-era Rome to foreign mercenaries in the Thirty-Years War and commonwealth soldiers in the World Wars, militaries have never been monolithic organisations. they have served as key sites in the formation of state power and different kinds of collective belongings. Yet the boundaries that determine who may serve, under what conditions and on whose behalf have never been fixed as these boundaries have shifted in response to changing configurations of citizenship, empire, class, gender, race/ethnicity, religion, physical capacities and national identity. Militaries have functioned both as mechanism for producing social hierarchies, and as arenas in which such hierarchies are negotiated, contested and reconfigured. This conference explores how lines of inclusion and exclusion have been drawn, negotiated and experienced within military organisations across diverse historical periods and geographical contexts. The aim is to foster a nuanced conversation that broadens our understanding of military institutions by focusing on the experiences and narratives of those often marginalised within them. We welcome contributions which examine how distinctions such as the following have been historically constructed, negotiated and embodied/experienced within and/or in relation to military institutions, organisations and structures: Race, ethnicity and minority status: Gender, gender-identity/non-conformity and sexuality Nationality, migration and statelessness: Religion: Disability status: While the emphasis is on historical perspectives, proposals are invited from scholars working in adjacent fields (political science, cultural studies). It will be held 22-23 October, 2026 the Swedish Defence University, Stockholm, Sweden. We are applying for funding to hold it fully in person, but depending on the outcome, it could be a hybrid event.
Please submit a preliminary title of maximum 150 characters and an abstract of maximum 350 words to MarginalMilitaries@gmail.com by no later than February 28. If you have any questions, please get in touch! Regards, Natalie Smith & Daniel Stridh
📢 CALL FOR PAPERS: Marginal Militaries: Navigating Historical Boundaries, Differences, and Experiences at the Military Periphery
Conference date: 22-23 October, 2026
Location: @forsvarshogskolan.bsky.social Stockholm, Sweden (hybrid participation tbc)
Cfp Deadline: 28 February, 2026
New blog from IHR Director @clairelanghamer@bsky.social reflecting on how historians can advocate for history through our practice, and defend the important historical work that goes on within universities as well as beyond them. blog.history.ac.uk/2025/11/advo...
Two #histmed CFPs with deadline for abstracts Jan 2026!
Life Histories in Mind: Mental Ill Health and Learning Disability in Context (Manchester) &
Blood is the price of coal: Coal communities, health and welfare in Britain and beyond from the 19th century to the present (Warwick)
For more details 👇
Who else is watching the fantastic #Empire series by @davidolusoga.bsky.social? It was a pleasure to be involved in this - dangerous and disease-ridden #prisonhulks were used in England for 80 years from 1776, propping up the rotten system of convict transportation. Check out episode 2 for more!
A new installation on ‘Medical alumni in history’ has been unveiled at the School of Medicine. It was designed and installed by our recent PhD graduate – and historian of medicine – @manoncwilliams.bsky.social, and features notable alumni from 19th and 20th century St Andrews. (1/3)
I am grateful for all the support I received on this project — special thanks to @aileenfyfe.bsky.social and @richardtbellis.bsky.social for their help.
You can see the online version here: medicine.st-andrews.ac.uk/alumniinhist....
[Photo credit: Edward Broughton]
I was thrilled to travel to Scotland this week to open an installation I’ve been working on for the School of Medicine @uniofstandrews.bsky.social. The installation showcases diverse alumni from St Andrews’ past to inspire incoming students to the #MBChB. #histmed #medsky #medhums #skystorians
Think about the way that the current scientific publishing system is draining resources out of the research ecosystem... That drain is most obvious in terms of money (and this is so despite #openaccess), but there's also an erosion of time, trust and control [1/n]
If you’re in London and want to learn more about how aged and disabled sailors were declared ‘unfit for service’ and invalided from the Navy, join me on 26 November. I’ll be giving a public talk in Greenwich based on my Caird Research Fellowship.
More info here: www.rmg.co.uk/whats-on/que...