Edith Garrud and the Battle of Glasgow

ON THIS DAY (9th March) 1914: Emmeline Pankhurst visited St Andrew's Hall in Glasgow to address a large meeting of the Women's Social and Political Union. Knowing she was subject to re-arrest under the ‘Cat and Mouse Act’, Mrs Pankhurst was smuggled into the hall inside a laundry basket and appeared on stage before the police rushed in. Rioting followed, the police drew batons and several suffragette supporters, including Mrs Pankhurst, were hurt and arrested.

Members of the audience were appalled by the behaviour of the police and wrote letters of complaint to the Lord Provost of Glasgow and the local newspapers. The Chief Constable of Glasgow interviewed his officers and on 26 March 1914, he submitted his report to the Under Secretary for Scotland denying the accusations. The Town Council called a Special Meeting of the Magistrates Committee to gather evidence and investigate the alleged ill treatment of women. Male and female witnesses provided their accounts of events. In the end, the Committee decided that there was no cause for complaint against the police and Walter Scott, the Secretary for Scotland, refused to appoint a Commissioner to conduct a public enquiry into the arrest of Mrs Pankhurst. I wanted to highlight the story of one particular bad ass who was present on this fateful day.

Edith Margaret Garrud (1872–1971) was among the first female professional martial arts instructors in the Western world. She trained the Bodyguard unit of the Women's Social and Political Union (WSPU) in jujutsu self-defence techniques.

She was born Edith Margaret Williams in 1872 in Bath, Somerset. Five years later, her family moved to Wales, where she stayed until around 1893. She married William Garrud, a physical culture instructor specializing in gymnastics, boxing and wrestling. They moved to London, where William found work as a physical culture trainer for several universities.

In 1899, the Garruds were introduced to the art of jiu jitsu by Edward William Barton-Wright, the first jiu jitsu teacher in Europe. Five years later, they became students at the jiu jitsu school of the former Bartitsu Club instructor Sadakazu Uyenishi in Golden Square, Soho. When Uyenishi left England in 1908, William took over as the owner and manager of the Golden Square school and Edith became the instructor of the women's and children's classes.

The Garruds popularised jujutsu by performing numerous exhibitions throughout London and by writing articles for magazines. Beginning in 1908, Edith also taught classes for the "Suffragettes Self-Defence Club", which was only open to members of the Suffrage movement. From 1911, these classes were based at the Palladium Academy, a dance school in Argyll Street.

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In 1913, the so-called Cat and Mouse Act was passed, whereby Suffragette leaders on hunger strikes could legally be released from jail in order to recover their health and then re-arrested. The WSPU responded by establishing a thirty-member, all-woman protection unit referred to as “the Bodyguard", the "Jiujitsuffragettes" and the "Amazons", to protect fugitive suffragettes from re-arrest. Edith Garrud became the very first trainer of the Bodyguard and taught them jujutsu and the use of Indian clubs as defensive weapons. Their lessons took place in a succession of secret locations to avoid the attention of the police.

The Bodyguard fought a number of well-publicised hand-to-hand combats with police officers who were attempting to arrest their leaders, most famously during the so-called "Battle of Glasgow" on 9 March 1914 and during the WSPU "Raid on Buckingham Palace" on 24 May 1914.

On several occasions they were also able to stage successful escapes and rescues, making use of tactics such as disguise and the use of decoys to confuse the police. Journalists coined the term "suffrajitsu" - a portmanteau of "suffragette" and "jiujitsu" - to describe their techniques of self-defence, sabotage and subterfuge.

The Bodyguard was disbanded shortly after the onset of the First World War, when the Suffragettes turned their efforts to aiding the War Effort.

Edith and William Garrud continued to work as self-defence and jiujutsu instructors until 1925, when they sold their school and appear to have retired from public life. There is some evidence to suggest that they may have been successful as investors in the property market. Edith is recorded as having made several contributions to various charitable causes during the 1950s and 1960s. In 1971 she died at the age of 99.