Though E.W. Barton-Wright appears to have largely abandoned the self-defence field when his original Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture closed during 1902, he retained the name “Bartitsu” with reference to his new endeavour. The Bartitsu Academy had featured, in addition to its combat gymnasium, a well-appointed therapeutic salon, and Barton-Wright expanded that aspect of his enterprise when he moved to Oxford Street and established the Bartitsu Institute.
These two newly-discovered images portray two of eight therapeutic salons within the Institute, which advertised cures for “gout, rheumatism, neuritis, neuralgia, sciatica” and a range of other ailments, mostly via application of heat, electricity and mechanical vibration. Some of Barton-Wright’s devices were among the early ancestors of modern therapeutic equipment such as diathermy machines, and may well have provided some pain relief; others; especially the “electric ray machines”, were sheer quackery.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 11th October 2016
Last night, his School Arms at 18, Berners-street, Professor Pierre Vigny gave a striking exhibition of the possibilities self-defence afforded by a simple walking-stick. In these days, when the papers are full of “Hooligan” outrages, some such easy form protection may be considered almost necessary for late wayfarers.
Holding a malacca cane by one hand at each end, the Professor calmly awaited the onslaught of a skilled opponent with a similar stick. The spectator never knew which hand was deal the blow, the released end moving with lightning speed, and a short hold was taken, that the assailant, in guarding against an impending blow, often found himself instead hammered or prodded with the butt.
Then came an exhibition of stick swinging by which every part of the body was protected on all sides. With perpetual loud hum the cane made circles, in front and behind, so that no-one could reach within the guard without instantly receiving a blow that would splinter any bone to pieces.
After this the Professor showed the spectators how to take knife or dagger from an advancing assailant. It looked so simple that one had to be assured that the trick really wanted learning.
And then, with the amateur heavy-weight champion, Mr. Frank Parkes, the Professor showed his skill in boxing and the French system of boxing with both hands and feet, “la savate.” With a sprinkling of people about, who had learned Professor Vigny’s system, the Hooligan would find his occupation gone.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Wednesday, 12th October 2016
The final season of the popular dark fantasy/drama series Penny Dreadful introduced the character of Catriona Hartdegen, a historian, thanatologist and expert swordswoman played by actress Perdita Weeks.
As the series is set primarily in London during the 1890s, Hartdegen’s skill at a stylised form of double-weapon fencing is an interesting creative choice. In real history, that style had been long-obsolete by the end of the 19th century, its heyday having been during the Elizabethan period. It was, however, revived, starting in the 1880s, primarily through the efforts of fencing antiquarians Egerton Castle and Captain Alfred Hutton, both of whom were still very active in promoting “ancient swordplay” at the time Miss Hartdegen is shown to be practicing it.
Also during the 1880s, a Viennese fencing/performance troupe began touring throughout the United States and parts of Europe, with a show that included theatrical re-enactments of gladiatorial combats as well as a stylised double-weapon method:
Above: Captain Hutton and W. Grenfell demonstrate the art of rapier and dagger fencing at the London Bath Club (March 9, 1899).
Hutton and Castle, however, placed an unusual emphasis upon serious historical research and sought to revive these antique fencing methods as practical fighting arts. One of Hutton’s most famous exhibitions took place at the London Bath Club in March of 1899. The rapier and dagger style was demonstrated, along with the fencing of the sword and buckler, the two-handed sword and the rapier and cloak:
The next exhibition of the “ arme blanche” was a fight between Captain Hutton and Mr. W. H. Grenfell, both armed with rapiers and daggers, and a very pretty game they made of it. Thus doubly weaponed, the fencer’s game is very much the boxer’s. The slip, the pass, the feint, are all very similar. And we can sympathize still with old George Silver’s indignation at those new-fangled Italian masters who “fought as you sing prick-song, one, two, and the third in your bosom”, and used the point in manner far too deadly for these English, “who were strong, but had no cunning.”
The Bath Club exhibition also included a demonstration of Bartitsu by Edward Barton-Wright. Shortly thereafter, Hutton joined the teaching staff of Barton-Wright’s Bartitsu Club, instructing students in both historical and modern (circa 1900) forms of swordplay. He also learned from his fellow instructors, picking up some jiujitsu kata from Sadakazu Uyenishi and Yukio Tani and enthusiastically practicing the unique, self-defence oriented cane fighting system of Pierre Vigny.
One of Hutton’s most skilled and prominent students was the actress and swordswoman Esme Beringer, who became an expert in the theatrical as well as martial forms of the art.
Above: Esme Beringer strikes a pose with the rapier and dagger.
Esme Beringer had first taken up fencing as a girl, under the instruction of a Sergeant Elliot.
During the first decade of the 20th century, she participated in numerous historical fencing displays with Hutton, Castle and their other students, and in 1902 she both chaired and bouted during an “ancient swordplay” display for the Playgoer’s Club. A reviewer from the Stage newspaper wrote:
The two performances given by Miss Esme Beringer and Mr. George Silver (an actor who shared the name of the famous Elizabethan-era swordsman) were marked by a keenness and promptness of attack and defence that raised the enthusiasm of the spectators. Their first contribution was a very spirited engagement with rapier and dagger, in which Miss Beringer, though vanquished finally, revealed considerable skill and alacrity. Not less absorbing and stimulating was their encounter with dagger and cloak, in which some very smart play was witnessed, Mr. Silver scoring two points to one.
Esme Beringer went on to become an instructor with the Actresses’ Foil Club, which had originated as the “ladies’ branch” of the Actors’ Sword Club. While the Actor’s Club was suspended during the First World War, the Actresses’ Club continued during wartime. Thus, it is not unlikely that Esme continued the Hutton/Castle lineage of historical fencing into the 1920s, and possibly beyond.
Meanwhile, in France, a similarly stylised method of double-weapon fencing had been developed by the fencing masters Albert Lacaze and Georges Dubois. It’s interesting to compare the style displayed in this 1927 newsreel with that used in the Penny Dreadful fight choreography above:
Posted inFencing, Fiction, Video|Comments Off on Shades of Esme Beringer: Double-Weapon Fencing in “Penny Dreadful”
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 18th October 2016
Captain F.C. Laing of the 12th Bengal Infantry (Kelat-I-Ghilzai Regiment) spent several months of intensive training at the London Bartitsu Club. He then produced a uniquely useful article, The “Bartitsu” Method of Self Defence, which was originally published in the Journal of the United Service Institution of India (1903) and which was reproduced in the second volume of the Bartitsu Compendium (2008).
Like most members of the Bartitsu Club, Laing was a keen fencer and physical culturist who took an interest in unusual antagonistics systems. He would later prototype the “sword-lance” for the British Army in India, incorporating a radically novel sword design equipped with a spiked pommel; Laing recommended the Bartitsu stick system for its use.
Captain Laing’s brief gloss of canonical Bartitsu stick fighting is significant in that it offers a system of “basics”, including some progressive drills, which were not covered in E.W. Barton-Wright’s articles for Pearson’sMagazine. Although Laing’s essay included some simple sketches of basic cane attacks and defences, however, he did not illustrate the more elaborate defence sequences or “set-plays” that he had learned at the Club.
He did, fortunately, offer brief written “examples” detailing several of these set-plays for his presumed readership of soldiers interested in the “New Art of Self Defence”. These set-plays are clearly similar to those that were featured in Barton-Wright’s own articles for Pearson’s, but they also include several details that Barton-Wright had omitted, notably including the use of the point (thrust or jab) with the butt or “short” end of the cane at close-quarters.
This feature of the Vigny system was frequently remarked upon by Barton-Wright himself and by observers of the system in action, with several commentators likening it to the use of a dagger. Laing reported that “Points are made with the butt end of the stick at any part of the body, the most favourable places being at the throat and ribs”.
Here is an interpretation of Laing’s second example, in which the Bartitsu-trained defender is armed with a walking stick and opposed by a man who punches at him.
Second.—A man without a stick rushes at you with his fist. He will probably strike out at your face or body with his left hand; if so, take up the “rear guard” position and as he strikes guard with left arm, seize his left wrist, and hit his left elbow with your stick, advance right leg and point with butt end of your stick at his throat, then follow this up by thrusting your stick between his legs and so levering him over.
The defender (right) assumes the rear guard, inviting the attacker’s left lead-off punch.
The defender guards and controls the attacker’s punch and strikes with his cane into the attacker’s extended elbow. Right: the same technique from a 1904 article on the Vigny system.
Stepping forward with his right leg, the defender draws the attacker’s injured arm down and prepares a backhanded strike.
The defender jabs the point (butt) end of his cane into the attacker’s throat.
Still controlling the attacker’s left wrist, the defender thrusts his cane between the attacker’s legs, pressing against the upper inside of his left (lead) thigh and the upper rear of his right thigh.
Dropping his weight through his straight arm so that the cane scissors powerfully downwards against the attacker’s left thigh, the defender exerts a leverage takedown, causing the attacker to fall backwards.
The defender stands and prepares to belabour, should he see fit.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Thursday, 20th October 2016
Captain F.C. Laing’s 1902 article The ‘Bartitsu’ Method of Self Defence is an often-neglected resource for canonical Bartitsu stick training.
As with all choreographed set-plays, Laing’s “examples” are best approached as formalised representations of certain technical and tactical options. It would be naive to assume that, for example, an active, aggressive opponent would allow any given action by the defender to take effect without attempting to defend and counter it, let alone that any set sequence of techniques could be relied upon in the chaos of a real fight. Thus, Barton-Wright’s precept of adaptability should be taken into account in all set-play training:
It is quite unnecessary to try and get your opponent into any particular position, as this system embraces every possible eventuality and your defence and counter-attack must be based entirely upon the actions of your opponent.
Bearing that principle in mind, the practice of set-plays offers four significant advantages.
1) Given that Bartitsu was effectively abandoned as a work-in-progress during 1902 and that no complete traditional curriculum exists, preserving the canonical set-plays constitutes our strongest practical link back to the first generation of Bartitsu practitioners.
2) Mastery of the set-plays as formal exercises conveys many of the essential, fundamental technical and tactical elements of Bartitsu as a martial art.
3) The set-plays can be “brought to life” via the addition of Bartitsu Club lineage material, as detailed in the second volume of the Bartitsu Compendium, and via combat improvisation training. Numerous failure drills and other exercises introducing progressive elements of spontaneity and active resistence may be applied to any set-play, offering a bridge between martial choreography and free sparring/fighting.
4) The canon of formal set-plays offer a “common language” for modern Bartitsu practitioners, which is especially useful when training with people from different clubs.
Here is an interpretation of Captain Laing’s “First Example” of Bartitsu stick fighting, which he described but did not illustrate in his article:
First.–We will suppose you are attacked by a man also with a stick in his hand; in nine cases out of ten a man who doesn’t know “Bartitsu” will rush with stick uplifted to hit you over the head.
Assume “first position,” guard head, then, before he has time to recover himself, hit him rapidly on both sides of his face, disengaging between each blow as explained, the rapidity of these blows will generally be sufficient to disconcert him; the moment you see this; dash in and hit him in the throat with the butt end of your stick, jump back at once and as you jump hit him again over the head.
The defender (right) assumes the “first position”, equivalent to the Front Guard described and illustrated in Barton-Wright’s articles but with the guard held wide to the defender’s right, inviting the attacker’s strike to the top of the defender’s head.
The attacker takes the bait and strikes to the top of the defender’s head. The defender wards the attack, allowing it to “shed” past him.
The defender immediately strikes a backhanded blow across the right side of the attacker’s face …
… disengages …
… and then strikes a forehanded blow across the left side of the attacker’s face.
Taking advantage of the attacker’s stunned state, the defender jumps in and delivers a point (jab) to the throat with the butt end of his cane …
… and then jumps back again out of distance, finishing with a backhand strike with the ball handle of his cane to the top of the attacker’s head.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 28th October 2016
Note – The March, 1899 antagonistics exhibition at the London Bath Club was widely reported upon in the media. Most accounts agree that the advertised Bartitsu contest between E.W. Barton-Wright and wrestler Eric Chipchase had been cancelled because both men had been injured in a cab accident the night before, but reports vary significantly on the amount and type of demonstration that did in fact, take place.
As noted below, Barton-Wright and Chipchase did come to grips about a month later during another exhibition at the St James’s Hall.
It’s also worth noting that “chucker-out” was Edwardian slang for a doorman or bouncer, who might be employed in saloons or at boisterous political rallies. Barton-Wright seemed to be annoyed by the suggestion that Bartitsu should be used in this way, and explictly refuted it in several lectures and interviews, probably because he intended the art to appeal to members of the educated classes.
Bartitsu/historical fencing exhibition at the Bath Club.
Sporting Times – Saturday, 11 March, 1899
A big platform covering the centre of the bath, decorations of red and white in stripes, the level space round the bath and the gallery crowded with ladies and gentlemen in their evening finery, band in red mess jackets making music at intervals, Mr. W. H. (we used to call him Billy at Monkey’s) Grenfell in black velvet sitting aloft with a table and bell before him, Captain Hutton, also in black velvet, and carrying a rapier, on the platform, that was what saw when I made entry into the Bath Club on Thursday evening.
The special attraction was have been an exposition of the noble art of Bartitsu, by Mr. Barton-Wright; but very early in the evening Mr. Grenfell rose and told us that Mr. Barton-Wright and Mr. Chipchase, the middleweight wrestling champion, with whom he was to have had a bout, had been upset while driving together in a hansom, and that one had strained his leg and the other put out his shoulder, Mr. Wright could and would talk but could not wrestle, bartitsu, or what ever the correct expression may be; but to make up for this disappointment were to have some swimming and a bout with the gloves, as well as some extra turns of Elizabethan sword-play.
The Elizabethan sword play is always interesting. It takes an expert to tell exactly what two men with foils are doing, but any lady can understand a cloak and rapier, or a rapier and dagger fight. The contests have a picturesqueness, too, which is lacking in fencing. Sandwiched between the various combats were swimming exhibitions, and a grey-headed gentleman frequently ran his face up against pair of boxing gloves on the hands of professor somebody-or-another.
Then Mr. Barton-Wright, a spare, lightly-built gentleman, stepped on to the platform, took off his coat and waistcoat, and proceeded to explain Bartitsu as well as a game leg would permit. It would not be fair to judge the system by what was, owing to the unlucky tab accident, a lecture almost entirely without illustrations; but I saw enough interest in the subject.
“If he once gets his grip on a man, he is done,” said a very old amateur boxer to me, and the “locks” are certainly, some of them, terrific in their strength. The only question is whether a boxer might not get in disabling blow before Mr. Barton- Wright could get his persuasive hands upon him. To chuckers-out, policemen in rough quarters, and men who go where there is trouble around, Bartitsu undoubtedly will be useful; but it requires, I should say, an athlete’s training.
Sporting Times – Saturday 29 April 1899
Mr. Barton Wright—who has not quite, I am sorry to say, recovered from his cab accident—lectured on and gave an exhibition of Bartitsu at St. James’ Hall, on Monday. He wrestled a bout with Mr. Chipchase, the middle-weight amateur champion, and certainly held his own, though both men were hampered the smallness of the stage.
The chucker-out science was, as before, the most interesting part of the lecture. My previous impression that Bartitsu is most useful to a small athletic man who may have to encounter a big man is confirmed, and I certainly think that policemen, chuckers-out, and others who have to deal with troublesome characters, should study the science. The presence of Sandow’s manager nearly led to a little breeze at one period of the lecture.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Friday, 28th October 2016
The Tokio and Osaka professors of the Japanese art of self-protection are in England, ready, under guidance of Mr. Barton-Wright, not only to display their skill, but to meet any British wrestler and show him he knows nothing of his game. They gave a private exhibition at the Tivoli Theatre yesterday, and they almost persuaded the hundred or so gentlemen who looked on that Japan is ahead of this country in personal self-defence, as with some other things, and infinitely superior to Continental peoples.
The writer of this paragraph has good reason to know that there no humbug in the business. After sitting open-mouthed throughout the performance, he still had a lingering suspicion that there was collusion, wherefore he asked Mr. Barton-Wright, who is himself an adept, what would if somebody rushed at him with a big stick. The scribe suited the action to the word, whereupon Mr. Barton-Wright treated him to one of the Japanese “locks”, which consisted in seizing the uplifted wrist with both hands and pressing the left elbow into the hollow of the sceptic’s arm, irresistably forcing him onto his back. If he had not yielded, he felt that his arm would have been broken.
This was one of the simplest demonstrations. It is said that there are 300 grips and throws the art. Exhibiting a considerable number yesterday, the two Japanese shied one another about in the most alarming manner. A rough who attacked one them would run risk getting killed, but on the Tivoli stage there was a thick carpet, and besides, the art, or rather the science, includes knowledge of how to fall.
Although each professor weighs less than ten stone, Mr. Barton-Wright declares that Sandow could not hold either of them down, and that the most skilful and heaviest English wrestler would thrown. Anybody is liberty to try after this week, for these terrible Japs begin a series of performances on Monday. Even expert boxers would probably come off second best, though the visitors know nothing of boxing. As for the French savate, they laugh at it.
One thing, however, should be clearly understood; Japanese self-defence knows no sporting rules. It is a serious thing, taught and practised for serious ends, and could only be tolerated in this country as counter to Hooliganism. Its thorough character is the reason of its efficiency. Like boxing, it must be learnt and practised, but it is more elaborate and scientific than our English sport, for the resistless nature of the grips and throws largely depend upon a knowledge of anatomy. Let any man of healthy physique once master its principles and learn to apply them promptly, and the biggest Hooligan that ever rushed would be at his mercy.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 1st November 2016
… by engaging toughs I trained myself until I was satisfied in practical application.
– E.W. Barton-Wright, 1950
Announcing the first international Bartitsu sparring video competition, for prizes of up to US$1000! The contest is open to martial artists and combat athletes of any style(s) and its object is to help fulfil the Bartitsu Society’s mission: “to continue the legacy of martial arts pioneer E.W. Barton-Wright”.
The “New Art of Self Defence”
For a few years at the turn of the 20th century, Barton-Wright’s London “School of Arms and Physical Culture” was the site of the world’s first experiment in cross-training between Asian and European fighting styles:
Under Bartitsu is included boxing, or the use of the fist as a hitting medium, the use of the feet both in an offensive and defensive sense, the use of the walking stick as a means of self-defence. Judo and jujitsu, which are secret styles of Japanese wrestling, (I) would call close play as applied to self-defence.
– E.W. Barton-Wright, 1901
Barton-Wright’s system was effectively abandoned as a work-in-progress during 1902. It then remained in obscurity for a century (apart from a cryptic reference in a Sherlock Holmes story) before being revived as a collaborative, on-going project by members of the Bartitsu Society.
Towards that project, we’re now looking to pressure-test the following set of experimental sparring guidelines, which are designed to closely evoke the “Bartitsu style” in hard-fought matches. These guidelines have been carefully designed to simulate the type of “all-in” fighting suggested by E.W. Barton-Wright’s original writings on Bartitsu, maintaining the spirit and detail of that system as it was evolving at the London Bartitsu Club circa 1901.
1) There is no provision for counting points nor declaring winners. The object of the sparring match is specifically to test and demonstrate the Bartitsu style in action.
2) Bouts may continue up to a nominated time limit and/or to submission, as you prefer.
3) Striking and thrusting with the stick, stick traps and disarms, unarmed striking, takedowns/throws and ground-fighting to submission are all legal. Videos that show examples of most or all of these techniques will be favoured by the adjudicators.
4) Both fighters must wear fencing masks or similar protective face/headgear, hockey gloves or similar protective handgear and groin cups at minimum; more extensive protective equipment is optional.
Gi jackets and belts/sashes are optional (note that Bartitsu does not use belt ranks, so belts and sashes are purely utilitarian and may be of any colour).
5) Contact levels and targets must be commensurate with the type of protective equipment employed – “play hard, play fair, nobody hurt”.
6) Each fighter must begin the match armed with one, approx. 36″ long rattan sparring cane with a rubber ball handle or crook handle. In the event of disarms, etc., the bout should continue seamlessly into unarmed combat.
Stick fighting guidelines:
1) Guard positions are generally high (the front, rear and double-handed guards as shown in Barton-Wright’s Self Defence with a Walking Stick articles), with lowered or widened variant guards serving as positions of invitation, i.e. “baiting” an attack to a particular target.
2) There is no use of orthodox fencing-style weapon-to-weapon parries in positions 3 or 4, nor any other weapon-to-weapon parry or block in which the hand is lower than the point of impact between the sticks. These are contrary to the basic premise of protecting the weapon hand and they significantly alter the fighting style if used in sparring.
Unarmed combat guidelines:
1) Fighters use the classical fisticuffs stance (erect or with a slight backward lean) and the pugilistic mill (circling the fists vertically in deceptive patterns) and/or extended guard position.
2) Predominantly linear punches from the mill and linear, low (predominantly knee/shin level) kicks.
3) The MMA-style double–leg takedown, while very effective, was not a part of the eclectic “British jiujitsu” practiced at the Bartitsu Club, and so is not allowed in Bartitsu-style sparring.
Video Guidelines
You may enter as many videos as you wish.
Entries will be accepted at any time before midnight USA Central Time, February 1, 2017.
Videos may be either static or dynamic (moving) camera set-ups and may include edited and/or raw footage. A single edited video may include footage from more than one sparring session.
When deciding on framing, editing choices, etc., however, please bear in mind that the object is to display the style clearly and to its best advantage.
Background music should not be used.
Videos must be issued under a Creative Commons licence and must be uploaded to YouTube and/or Vimeo. If you do not wish your video(s) to be publicly searchable on YouTube, we suggest setting the privacy to “Unlisted”.
Links to each video you are entering should be sent to tonywolf(at)gmail.com.
Adjudication and prizes
The adjudicators’ decisions will be based on the levels of historical/stylistic accuracy and martial intent apparent in each video. Their decisions will be binding and final – no correspondence will be entered into.
If no videos achieve the requisite standards of historical/stylistic accuracy and martial intent, the adjudicators reserve the right to defer awarding any prizes.
The winning entry will receive a single prize of US$1000, sent by PayPal to the entrant’s nominated email address.
The second place winning entry will receive a single prize of US$500, sent by PayPal to the entrant’s nominated email address.
Prize-winning videos and a selection of runners-up will be announced and showcased on the Bartitsu Society website and via Bartitsu-related social media. At the adjudicators’ discretion, highlights of the prize-winning and runner-up videos may also be re-edited and collated into other videos as exemplars of Bartitsu-style sparring.
Originally published on the Bartitsu.org site on Tuesday, 8th November 2016
Feedback in the wake of our announcement of the international Bartitsu sparring video contest has included this question, both from groups who practice their own forms of neo-Bartitsu and from groups who train in comparable styles of Filipino, French, Italian and other martial arts.
“We don’t strictly train in Bartitsu – can we still enter the sparring video contest?”
The objects of the contest are to pressure-test the sparring guidelines themselves and to generate sparring video footage of the “canonical” method described by E.W. Barton-Wright, circa 1900.
With that in mind:
We’ve allowed a three-month period so that martial artists can train for their entry (or entries) if they wish. We anticipate that many people who are already skilled in comparable styles will find that is plenty of time to adjust their regular practice towards the style suggested in the guidelines.
The rules allow videos to be edited and note that a single video can include footage from multiple sparring matches. “Highlights videos” are just as welcome as are unedited videos of single matches. Therefore, if, in the heat of sparring, you perform techniques that are outside the style guidelines, you are welcome to edit those techniques out of your video.
If you have any further questions regarding the contest rules or sparring guidelines, feel free to ask in the comments below or by contacting tonywolf(at)gmail.com.
We look forward to seeing your videos!
Posted inEditorial, Sparring|Comments Off on “We don’t strictly train in Bartitsu – can we still enter the sparring video contest?”
