Visitors to our Festival of History back in June may remember having witnessed a suffragette martial arts class. Entitled Jam, Jerusalem & Jui-Jitsu, these demonstrations gave members of the public an insight into one of the many tactics employed by the WSPU as part of their campaign to win the vote.
Viewed traditionally as the ‘weaker sex’, the thought of a suffragette, dressed as she would have been in heavy Edwardian clothing, flinging her male oppressor to the floor with the skill and technique of an Olympic champion seems far-fetched. However, unlikely as it might sound, this is not historical fantasy.
Known as the ‘JuiJitsu Suffragette’, Edith Garrud was the person responsible for training members of the WSPU in the art of Jui-Jitsu. Edith, as I am sure you can imagine, had a fairly unconventional life for this period. She was a physical training instructor along with her husband, William. They had first been introduced to this form of martial arts by Edward Barton Wright, who had become familiar with the discipline during his travels in Japan. Edith, it is reported, excelled at Jui-Jitsu, despite being only 4ft 11inches herself.
The WSPU began to employ increasingly militant methods in order to get their message heard by those in Westminster. In response to this the physical force used by the police increased. In order to be a policeman at this time you were required to be at least 5ft 10inches, considerably larger than the female activists they confronted.
In an effort to level the playing field, Edith elected to conduct Jui-Jitsu training for a small group of WSPU members. This small group would be termed The Bodyguard and act as a protection unit for Emmeline Pankhurst during her public appearances.
The Bodyguard were also trained in skills of deception. The Suffragette film depicts a scene where Emmeline Pankhurst delivers a speech from a London balcony. The police arrive, with the next scene showing what the audience believe to be Emmeline leaving the building. The police make the arrest. However, they have been outfoxed. The female that emerged from the building was in fact a body double. It would be easy to disregard this scene as simply a creation of Hollywood. That would be wrong. There is documentary evidence that prove these acts of deception took place.
The Jui-Jitsu trained Bodyguard proved to be an effective force. There were reports of women, such as Edith, throwing policemen, much heavier than themselves, over their shoulders. Whilst The Suffragette film doesn’t explicitly depict women performing Jui-Jitsu, it certainly does not shy away from showing these women as being able to look after themselves, when confronted with police violence.
Suffragette Jui-Jitsu, and Edith Garrud’s involvement, will remain a quirky part of suffrage history. The point I’d like to leave you with is that jui-jitsu is not an attacking martial art: it is one of defence, using the opponent’s momentum against them. The WSPU are often criticised for their militancy. However, we often overlook the fact that they were regularly confronted with police brutality. The WSPU’s use of Jui-Jitsu serves as a useful reminder of this. Many of the tactics they employed were to counter the threat posed by men of the establishment.
By Steven Franklin.
Steven is a Citizens Project Officer and PhD researcher at Royal Holloway, University of London.
