Edith Garrud
Person Female Born 1872 Died 1971
Suffragette and martial arts instructor. Born Edith Margaret Williams in Bath. She married William Garrud, a physical culture instructor and in 1899 they were introduced to the art of jiu-jitsu. In 1913, the so-called 'Cat and Mouse Act' was passed, which allowed Suffragettes on hunger strike to be released from prison and then immediately re-arrested. As a response to this, an all-woman protection unit called the 'Bodyguard' was formed and she trained its members in jiu-jitsu and the use of Indian clubs as defensive weapons. Now that really is 'resisting arrest.'
She is credited as Madame Gerrud in the short film Ju-Jitsu of 1907 : "Women pursue pickpockets from Piccadilly to Hampstead and wrestle them." But sadly it seems to be lost.
Londonist has some more info as does London Historian.
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