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This paper contains a biographical sketch of the late Japanese number theorist Jitsuro Nagura (1901–68) based on material provided by his eldest son Riichi Nagura, and a synopsis of his two surviving mathematical papers, the first a well-known article on primes in short intervals, and the second an unpublished draft of a proof relating to complex polynomials. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

In a deliberately provocative first part to this paper, I argue that nineteenth-century British mathematicians had an unduly high opinion of themselves and a striking lack of appreciation for contemporary continental developments. I argue that this failure was rooted in the institutions that supported mathematics, and was only remedied towards the end of the century. In the more sober second half of the paper I ask if historians of mathematics have subscribed to this overestimate, and explore some related questions, among them what are historians doing when they write history: telling it as it was, or righting or defending the record? Historians of mathematics also need to consider British priorities for research in the nineteenth century, and a comparison with other minor players (such as Japan, Portugal, or Poland) might be illuminating. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]