Also known as

Description

The first British female teacher of jujutsu and one of the first female martial arts instructors in the Western world. Born Edith Margaret Williams in Bath, she trained as a physical culture instructor and met fellow instructor William Garrud in 1892, marrying him the following year. Introduced to jujutsu in 1899, she studied under Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi at the Bartitsu School of Arms and continued under Uyenishi at his Golden Square Dojo; when Uyenishi returned to Japan in 1908 the Garruds took over the dojo, Edith teaching the women's and children's classes. Around 1909 she opened her own dojo, the School of Ju-jutsu, at Argyll Place. A member of the Women's Freedom League from 1906 and head of its Women's Athletic Society from 1908, she became celebrated for the Suffragettes' Self-Defence Club she ran for WSPU members and, from 1913, for training the WSPU 'Bodyguard' of around thirty women who protected Emmeline Pankhurst. She taught and demonstrated in a signature red jujutsu jacket, published widely on women's self-defence (including the 1910 essay "The World We Live In" in Votes for Women), choreographed suffragette theatre, and continued teaching with William until their retirement in 1925.

Teachers (2)

• 
  Tani Yukio

  linkJūjutsu 3

  Confirmed

  Wikipedia states explicitly that the Garruds trained under the jujutsu instructors Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi at the Bartitsu School of Arms and continued under Uyenishi at Golden Square; corroborated by Brough (2020).

  sports_kabaddiSchool of Japanese Self Defence badge (1903-1908)

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  3 sources

  fact_check

  Wikipedia states explicitly that the Garruds trained under the jujutsu instructors Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi at the Bartitsu School of Arms and continued under Uyenishi at Golden Square; corroborated by Brough (2020).

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "The Garruds trained under the school's jujutsu instructors Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi... After the Bartitsu school closed in 1902, the Garruds continued training under Uyenishi at his own Golden Square Dojo."

  — (2026). Edith Garrud - Wikipedia. Wikipedia (English)linkinfo

  "While training at the Golden Square Dojo the Garruds trained with the best instructors of the time including Uyenishi, Tani, Taro Miyake, Mitsuyo Maeda, and Akitaro Ohno."

  — Brough, David. (2020). The Golden Square Dojo and its place in British Jujutsu historylinkinfo

  "Garrud and her husband William were originally trained by Uyenishi Sadakazu."

  — Callan, Mike; Heffernan, Conor; Spenn, Amanda. (2018). Women's Jūjutsu and Judo in the Early Twentieth-Century: The Cases of Phoebe Roberts, Edith Garrud, and Sarah Mayer linkinfo
• 
  Uyenishi Sadakazu

  linkJūjutsu 3

  Confirmed

  Wikipedia states the Garruds studied under Uyenishi, initially at the Bartitsu club; Brough (2020) records they were students of Uyenishi and that he passed control of the Golden Square dojo to them on his departure; Callan/Heffernan/Spenn state they were originally trained by Uyenishi Sadakazu.

  sports_kabaddiSchool of Japanese Self Defence badge (1903-1908)

  expand_morefact_checkassessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  3 sources

  fact_check

  Wikipedia states the Garruds studied under Uyenishi, initially at the Bartitsu club; Brough (2020) records they were students of Uyenishi and that he passed control of the Golden Square dojo to them on his departure; Callan/Heffernan/Spenn state they were originally trained by Uyenishi Sadakazu.

  assessed by FSMverified

  Frederico Muñoz

  Researcher, Martialis

  "The Garruds trained under the school's jujutsu instructors Yukio Tani and Sadakazu Uyenishi... After the Bartitsu school closed in 1902, the Garruds continued training under Uyenishi at his own Golden Square Dojo."

  — (2026). Edith Garrud - Wikipedia. Wikipedia (English)linkinfo

  "Husband and wife, William and Edith Garrud, had been students of Uyenishi, initially at the Bartitsu club, and then at the Golden Square Dojo."

  — Brough, David. (2020). The Golden Square Dojo and its place in British Jujutsu historylinkinfo

  "Garrud and her husband William were originally trained by Uyenishi Sadakazu."

  — Callan, Mike; Heffernan, Conor; Spenn, Amanda. (2018). Women's Jūjutsu and Judo in the Early Twentieth-Century: The Cases of Phoebe Roberts, Edith Garrud, and Sarah Mayer linkinfo

Sources