Category Archives: Fencing

“Susan Swayne and the Bewildered Bride”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 22nd June 2012 The world premiere of this new play by Chicago playwright Reina Hardy will be produced by the Babes With Blades theatre company in August 2012. It’s 1888 in London, and the … Continue reading

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The Grave of Captain Alfred Hutton

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 21st October 2012  Thanks to some excellent detective work by members of the Schola Forum, the grave and memorial tablet of former Bartitsu Club instructor Captain Alfred Hutton has been located in Astbury Churchyard, … Continue reading

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The Swordswoman: Esme Beringer

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 28th February 2013  Directly paralleling the revival of Bartitsu, the modern revival of historical fencing as a martial art has become well-established over the past fifteen years. However, a remarkably similar revival of “ancient swordplay” … Continue reading

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Elizabethan Sword-Play and Bartitsu at the Bath Club (1899)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 29th July 2013 A tongue-in-cheek review of the famous Bath Club exhibition of March 1899, from “The Truth” newspaper: Very interesting indeed was the display of Elizabethan sword-play at the Bath Club last … Continue reading

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“The Sword and the Pen: Two Swashbuckling Stories”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 13th February 2014 We’re happy to announce the publication of The Sword and the Pen in both print and e-book formats. Egerton Castle, famous as a pioneer of the late-Victorian revival of Elizabethan swordsmanship, … Continue reading

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“Ladies Night at the Bath Club”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Sunday, 9th March 2014 A short account and illustration of the famous Bartitsu and historical fencing exhibition at the London Bath Club, courtesy of the The Sussex Agricultural Express, 17 March 1899: One of … Continue reading

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Captain Laing on Adapting Bartitsu Stick Fighting for Army Swordsmanship

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 20th March 2014 Frederick Charles Laing was born in India on December 5th of 1865, the son of Major Frederick Ernest Laing and Lucy Augusta Laing. The young Frederick attended an English … Continue reading

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“Ancient Swordplay: the Revival of Elizabethan Fencing in Victorian London”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 18th July 2014 During the final decades of the 19th century, a cabal of fencers and historians led by Captain Alfred Hutton and his colleague, the writer Egerton Castle, undertook a systematic study and practical … Continue reading

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“Exercise With the Double-Handed Sword” (1894)

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 25th August 2014 A very rare colour version of artist Percy Macquoid’s Exercise With The Double-Handed Sword, part of his Types of Old Swordsmanship series for The Graphic newspaper, dating to 1894. The swordsmen who posed for these … Continue reading

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“The Gentle Art of Chucking-Out and Midnight Murder”

Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Monday, 27th July 2015 From “The Truth”, March 16, 1899: Very interesting indeed was the display of Elizabethan sword-play at the Bath Club last week. Messrs. Fraser, Johnson, Cooke, Gate, and the President, … Continue reading

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