Edith Margaret Garrud
(1872-1971)

Died aged c. 99

Edith Margaret Garrud (née Williams; 1872–1971) was a British martial artist, suffragist and playwright. She was the first British female teacher of jujutsu and one of the first female martial arts instructors in the western world. Garrud was introduced to jujutsu in 1899 alongside her husband William; they studied under Sadakazu Uyenishi and she later opened her own London dojo. A supporter of women's suffrage, Garrud joined the Women's Freedom League in 1906 where she set up a self-defence club. To advertise how women could benefit from jujitsu, Garrud wrote fictional self-defence scenarios for magazines that she sometimes staged as suffrage theatre performance with costumes and props. 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 from members of the public. 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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