Edith Garrud

Edith Margaret Garrud (1872–1971) was among the first female professional martial arts instructors in the Western world. She is remembered for having trained the Bodyguard unit of the Women's Social and Political Union (W.S.P.U.) in jujutsu self defence techniques.

Early life

She was born Edith Margaret Williams in Bath, Somerset in the year 1872. Five years later, her family moved to Wales, where she remained until circa 1893, when she married William Garrud, a physical culture instructor specialising in gymnastics, boxing and wrestling. William and Edith Garrud relocated to London, where William found work as a physical culture trainer for several universities.

In 1899 the Garruds were introduced to the art of jujutsu by Edward William Barton-Wright, the first jujutsu teacher in Europe and the founder of the eclectic martial art of Bartitsu. Five years later, they became students at former Bartitsu Club instructor Sadakazu Uyenishi's jujutsu school in Golden Square, Soho. In 1907 Edith was featured as the protagonist in a short film entitled "Ju-jutsu Downs the Footpads", which was produced by the Pathe Film Company.

When Uyenishi returned to Japan in 1908, William took over as the owner and manager of the Golden Square school and Edith became the instructor of the women's and children's classes.

The Garruds popularised jujutsu by performing numerous exhibitions throughout London and by writing articles for various magazines. Beginning in 1908, Edith also taught classes open only to members of the Suffrage movement. From 1911 these classes were based at the Palladium Academy, a dance school in London's Argyll Street.

In January 1911 Edith Garrud choreographed the fight scenes for a polemic play entitled "What Every Woman Ought to Know." In August of that year one of her articles on women's self defence was published in Health and Strength Magazine.

Trainer of bodyguards

In 1913, as a response to the so-called Cat and Mouse Act whereby Suffragette leaders on hunger strikes could legally be released from jail and then re-arrested, the W.S.P.U. established a thirty-member, all-woman protection unit referred to as "the Bodyguard". Edith Garrud became the trainer of the Bodyguard and taught them jujutsu and the use of Indian clubs as defensive weapons. Their lessons took place in a succession of secret locations to avoid the attention of the police. The Bodyguard fought a number of well-publicised hand-to-hand combats with police officers who were attempting to arrest their leaders.

On several occasions they were also able to stage successful escapes and rescues, making use of tactics such as disguise and the use of decoys to confuse the police.

The Bodyguard was disbanded shortly after the onset of the First World War. W.S.P.U. leader Emmeline Pankhurst had decided to suspend militant suffrage actions and to support the British Government during the crisis, and therefore no longer required protection.

Later life

Edith and William Garrud continued to work as self defence and jujutsu instructors until 1925, when they sold their school and appear to have retired from public life. There is some evidence to suggest that they may have been successful as investors in the property market. Edith is recorded as having made several contributions to various charitable causes during the 1950s and 1960s.

In 1966, on her 94th birthday, Edith Garrud was the subject of an extensive feature article published in Woman Magazine.

She died in 1971 at the age of 99.

References

Couch, Jason. ["The Jujutsu Suffragettes"][1]

Crawford, Elizabeth. "The women's suffrage movement, 1866-1928" 2001, p240

Garrud, Edith. "The World We Live In: Self-Defence", Votes for Women newspaper, March 4, 1910, p355.

Mackenzie, Midge. "Shoulder to Shoulder", 1988

Raeburn, Antonia. "The Militant Suffragettes", 1976, p96

Wilson, Gretchen. "With All Her Might: The Life of Gertrude Harding, Militant Suffragette", 1998

Winn, Godfrey. "Dear Mrs. Garrud - I wish I'd known you then ... " Woman Magazine, June 19, 1965

Wolf, Tony. "Edith Garrud: the Suffragette who knew jujutsu" 2009