Edith Margaret Garrud was a British martial artist, suffragist and playwright.
17 Facts About Edith Garrud
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Edith Garrud was the first British female teacher of jujutsu and one of the first female martial arts instructors in the western world.
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Edith Garrud is best remembered for training the Bodyguard unit of the Women's Social and Political Union in jujutsu self-defence techniques to protect their leaders from arrest and from violence by members of the public.
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Edith Garrud is credited with forging the image of the militant suffrage campaigner trained in hand-to-hand combat that came to represent the militants' struggle for the vote.
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Edith Garrud Margaret Williams was born in 1872 in Bath, Somerset.
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Edith Garrud was the founder of Bartitsu, a "New Art of Self Defence", and the owner of The Bartitsu School of Arms and Physical Culture.
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Edith Garrud continued giving lessons to women and children while William taught the men.
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Edith Garrud became the first British female teacher of jujutsu, and one of the first female martial arts instructors in the Western world.
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In May 1909 the militant Women's Social and Political Union's organised a "Woman's Exhibition" at the Prince's Skating Rink in Knightsbridge where Edith Garrud was invited to perform a jujutsu exhibition.
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Edith Garrud was keen for her training not be seen as an encouragement to attack police officers, but rather as a means for women to defend themselves against assaults.
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That same year, in an essay for Votes for Women, Edith Garrud outlined her vision for female empowerment gained through martial arts:.
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The article was illustrated with photographs of Edith Garrud performing the techniques from the play.
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In January 1911, Edith Garrud choreographed the fight scenes for a polemic play entitled What Every Woman Ought to Know.
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From 1911, in response to increased demand, Edith Garrud moved her Suffragettes' Self-Defence Club to the Palladium Academy, a dance school in Argyll Street.
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Edith Garrud became the trainer of the Bodyguard, teaching them jujutsu and the use of Indian clubs as defensive weapons.
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Edith and William Garrud continued to work as self-defence and jujutsu instructors until 1925, when they sold their school.
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In 2013, Edith Garrud was included in a sculpture in Finsbury Park bus and tube station.