The Suffrajitsu Bodyguards masterfully employed Jujitsu while wearing floor-grazing skirts and petticoats. A secret society of roughly thirty unarmed but fearless British women, they mastered martial arts techniques from experts including Edith Garrud in the early 1900s. Their sole mission was to protect leading suffragettes from harm or arrest in the public fight for women’s right to vote.
They executed Garrud’s non-violent but effective moves like those outlined in her “Husband Tamer” lesson. The Suffrajitsu Bodyguards, also called Amazons, were mostly unarmed. When they faced police brutality, some employed more aggressive tactics. These included using Indian Clubs concealed under their petticoats, lobbing potatoes and burying barbed wire in floral arrangements. A few were known to ignite the occasional bomb.
Following are 8 Mind Flipping Details From the Suffrajitsu Bodyguards.
#1-Word Play Expressed Escalation Of The Struggle To Vote
Suffrajitsu is a portmanteau of “suffragette” and “jiu-jitsu”. The word combination was reportedly first appeared in an anonymous news article in 1914.
Journalist Charles E. Hands first used the term suffragette derisively in the London Daily Mail in 1906 to describe activists in the movement. While the fight for women’s vote started politely in the UK in the 1860s, many women had grown increasingly frustrated over the decades and insistent on positive action.
Tetsujiro Shidachi first demonstrated Ju-jitsu in London in the late 1800s. Shortly after, Edward Baron-Wright popularized jiu-jitsu (also called Jujutsu and later Jujitsu) as a form of physical fitness. By the 1900s, martial arts lessons were trending with health-conscious Edwardians in studios and parlor parties.
#2-Leaders Of The Suffrage Movement Needed Protection
In 1903, Emmeline Pankhurst with her daughters Christabel and Sylvia started the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU). This escalated the call to “deeds instead of words” that triggered suffrage into fight mode.
While Jujitsu was a great way to stay fit, it was also an excellent means of self-defense for unarmed citizens. Suffragists embraced its techniques along with sabotage, subterfuge and other more aggressive methods when needed.
On November 18, 1910, the Black Friday Protest in the House of Commons involved heavy police action against 300 unarmed women. Two women died in the uprising.
Police brutality escalated with the “Cat and Mouse Act” of 1913 that allowed release of prisoners on hunger strikes, then re-arrest them once they recovered.
In response to new levels of danger, leaders in the movement formed the Suffrajitsu Bodyguards. Their mission was to protect and defend top members of the Suffrage movement from harm or arrest.
From then forward, when Emmeline Pankhurst appeared in public, thirty well-trained women flanked her. The Suffrajitsu Bodyguards were sometimes called Amazons or Jiujitsuffragettes.
#3-Edith Garrud Trained The Bodyguards
Edith Garrud who was one of the earliest female martial arts instructors in Britain, trained the Suffrajitsu Bodyguards.
Garrud (1872-1971) and her husband discovered martial arts in the late 1800s at a “jujutsu” exhibition in the Bartitsu Eclectic Martial Arts Center. She and her husband William, a physical fitness instructor, then studied with master Sadakazu Uyenishi in his Jujitsu School at Golden Square in London.
A natural, Edith Garrud specialized in training women and children in self-defense. When Uyenishi returned to Japan in 1908, he left his school in the capable hands of the Garruds and a few other top students.
#4-Edith Garrud Flipped Her Way To Fame
Garrud published numerous articles and plays about Jujitsu for self-defense. Suffrajitsu Bodyguards: When You Need Jiu-Jitsu Illustration. In 1907 she played the protagonist in a short film, Jiu-Jitsu Downs the Footpads, produced by Pathé Film Company
In 1910, The Sketch published a full-page spread of her demonstrating techniques with a man dressed as a policeman. The caption read: ‘If you want to earn some time, throw a policeman! The jujitsu suffragette shows how a policeman may be tackled.’
According to the article, the petite-framed Garrud at 4 feet 10 inches tall opposed 2 policemen in the demonstration. “She threw the first policeman within 10 seconds but lost a bout with the second.”
The Sketch also explained that suffragettes practiced jujitsu to protect themselves against ‘unpleasant young men’ , not to fight with the police. (History of Fighting)
Soon after, Punch printed what became a famous political cartoon showing uniformed policemen cowering before a sole woman, armed only with her knowledge of Jujitsu
Also in 1910, the Evening Telegraph wrote that Garrud challenged a good-natured policeman who was a good foot taller than her. Prior to their bout, he referred to her as a “little dot of a woman.” After a few minutes of fighting, she fell on her back as he towered over her. Letting him believe for a moment that he had won, she suddenly kicked his diaphragm, flung him over her head and landed him on his back.
#5-Garrud Wrote And Choreographed The Husband Tamer
In their April 1911 edition, Health & Strength, famously published Garrud’s play:
Ju-Jutsu as a Husband-Tamer: A Suffragette Play with a Moral
In it a reviewer wrote:
“I saw a rehearsal of the new suffragette sketch, by Mr. Armstrong, in which Ju-jutsu (the real thing) plays a dominant part. The moral of the sketch is great. Liz, the coster’s wife [a costermonger, or seller of fruits and vegetables] (personated by Miss Quinn), having been taught Ju-jutsu by Mrs. Garrud, tames her drunken husband into subjection.” (Electronic Journals of Martial Arts and Sciences)
#6 The Battle Of Glasgow Defined The Bodyguards
The Suffrajitsu Bodyguards faced one of their greatest tests on March 9, 1914 in Glasgow, Scotland. After travelling overnight from London, they had to protect Emmeline Pankhurst who was scheduled to speak to a crowd of thousands at then St Andrew’s Hall. Today it’s the Mitchell library.
In the highly excited crowd were at least 50 police officers ready for combat.
Prior to the speech, Hannah Brown writes for The Scotsman members of the WSPU:
“…arranged bouquets and garlands of flowers along the front of the stage, to conceal a screen of barbed wires to hinder police and hid buckets of water and ‘conspicuously sturdy’ flagpoles nearby.” (The Scotsman)
The Suffrajitsu Bodyguards arrived early in preparation for Pankhurst’s speech, which was scheduled for 8pm. Police checked ID’s of roughly 4,000 audience members as they arrived, with the hope of arresting Pankhurst before she entered the hall. They did not know that she had arrived earlier and remained hidden by her tactical team.
Minutes into her speech, dozens of officers stormed in to arrest Pankhurst. The Suffrajitsu Bodyguards surrounded her, so she could speak as long as possible.
“Police tried to clamber onto the stage but their uniforms became tangled in barbed wire.Suffragettes threw their buckets of water and used the flagpoles as battering rams. The skirmish escalated when leading Scottish suffragette Janie Allan drew a pistol from her skirt and fired at officers.” (The Scotsman)
Police were unaware that she was shooting blanks.
Meanwhile, another Bodyguard whacked an officer with an Indian Club hidden beneath her skirt. Needless to say, a brawl ensued with officers using truncheons liberally.
Police tried to disburse the crowd after arresting Pankhurst. Instead of running, they held their ground as Flora Drummond delivered the remainder of Pankhusrst’s speech.
“The suffragettes led a march through the streets of Glasgow with several thousand members of the audience before the crowds were eventually dispersed by officers on horseback.” (The Scotsman)
#7-Kitty Marshall And Others Were Largely Lost To History
Many brave women and some men sacrificed for our right to vote. While the suffrage movements in Europe and America were separate battles in locale and specifics, in spirit they were one.
Most of these people are barely mentioned in history or not at all. But we honor each of them for their bravery as trailblazers.
According to Preston History, Kitty Marshall was one largely forgotten person who belonged to the Suffrajitsu Bodyguards. She was reportedly imprisoned six times. One time was because she hurled a potato through one of Winston Churchill’s windows. While a large potato could conceivably cause more damage and injury than a sandwich, it was hardly a deadly weapon. (Preston History)
#8-Another Tactic Was The Census Boycott
‘No vote, no census’
According to Vicky Iglikowski-Broad of the National Archives of the UK Suffrage supporters across the country were determined to pressure the government through a mass census boycott. If they were not treated as citizens with a voice, they would not let themselves be counted on the census.
The Women’s Freedom League (WFL) mobilized women from many suffrage societies to join in the boycott.
“They campaigned using the colours white, gold and green and their stance was to generally support militant, but non-violent action. The WFL defined themselves as ‘militant’ but sometimes when pressed would say ‘non-violent militant’.” (National Archives UK)
Unlike other groups including the Siffrajitsu Bodyguards, members of the WFL would not attack property or people.
A Brief Timeline
Following are top beats of the Suffrajitsu Bodyguard’s story.
1870s – women’s suffrage developed into a national movement
1897-Millicent Fawcett linked small groups together
1892 – Tetsujiro Shidachi demonstrated Ju-jitsu in London.
1899-1902– Edward Baron-Wright promoted Asian martial arts.
1899– Edith Garrud, discovered martial arts through Edward Barton Wright and later became one of the first and most influential trainers of Suffragist bodyguards.
1903-Emmeline Pankhurst with her daughters Christabel and Sylvia started the Women’s Social and Political Union (WSPU), which was dedicated to dedicated to “deeds, not words”, thus escalating the fight for rights.
1903-Emily Diana Watts was among the first women to teach martial arts at the Golden Square School.
1905-06– Emily Diana Watts taught self-defense to a wide range of women, including socialites, at the Princes Skating Club in Knightsbridge.
1908 – Edith Garrud took over instruction at the Golden Square School
1909 – Garrud started the ‘Suffragettes Self-Defense Club’
1910 – On November 18, the Black Friday Raid involved heavy police action against 300 unarmed women who marched on the House of Commons.
1913-the Asquith government instituted the ” Cat and Mouse Act “: imprisoned suffragette leaders on hunger strike could legally be released from prison to regain their strength before being arrested again for the same reasons.
1914 – “Battle of Glasgow” March 9 and “Raid on Buckingham Palace” (May 24)
1918-the UK Parliament passed a law allowing women over 30 who met certain property ownership requirements (and all men over 21) to vote in general elections.
After outbreak of WWI – the Suffrajitsu Bodyguard was dismantled.
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