An umbrella is a fearful weapon if used with both hands like a bayonet
September 23, 2018 4:09 AM Subscribe
“Lithe as the animal she takes her cognomen from, and strong and supple as steel, she presented an extraordinary picture as she awaited the onset. When the signal was given the heavy blades cut through the air like flashes of lightning, and steel rang on steel in a series of movements so rapid in execution as to defy being followed by the eye.Ben Miller writes about colonel Thomas Hoyer Monstery, one of the few fencing instructors to teach women to not just fence, but fight -- including the proper use of umbrellas in self defence -- and his greatest student: Ella "Jaguarina" Hattan, America's greatest ever swordswoman.
Ella Hattan at the Rejected Princesses (which is all about women Disney would probably never make movies about).
posted by mephron at 5:49 AM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
posted by mephron at 5:49 AM on September 23, 2018 [2 favorites]
Man! This is exactly what I needed to read after several days of news about Ford and Kavanaugh.
“As soon as she comprehended what his words meant, bang, biff! she landed right and left, and he fell to the ground. ‘Get up, you coward,’ she commanded, and he, overcome by the ringing tones, very foolishly crawled to his knees. Biff! Bang! Right and left landed again, and down he went, and this time he refused to get up and sprawled on the ground, calling for help. It was several days before he was presentable, while Jaguarina laughingly showed her friends in this city the next day that she knocked the fellow down twice without even taking the skin from her rosy little knuckles.” (Los Angeles Herald)
You go, lady. Yesterday the pussy hat, today the umbrella.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:35 AM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
“As soon as she comprehended what his words meant, bang, biff! she landed right and left, and he fell to the ground. ‘Get up, you coward,’ she commanded, and he, overcome by the ringing tones, very foolishly crawled to his knees. Biff! Bang! Right and left landed again, and down he went, and this time he refused to get up and sprawled on the ground, calling for help. It was several days before he was presentable, while Jaguarina laughingly showed her friends in this city the next day that she knocked the fellow down twice without even taking the skin from her rosy little knuckles.” (Los Angeles Herald)
You go, lady. Yesterday the pussy hat, today the umbrella.
posted by Autumnheart at 6:35 AM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
“It is a great mistake to suppose that women cannot learn fencing as quickly as men…the fact is the women are much the quicker pupils. They are more flexible of body; their limbs are more supple and elastic—that’s one advantage. Their mental brightness enables them to pick up the strategy of the art quicker—that’s a second advantage. And, thirdly, they have more nerve—it’s a fact; I don’t know why, but it’s a fact.”
Damn right. This applies to everything.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 7:11 AM on September 23, 2018 [11 favorites]
Damn right. This applies to everything.
posted by cristinacristinacristina at 7:11 AM on September 23, 2018 [11 favorites]
Monstery and Jaguarina are awesome superhero names.
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:42 AM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
posted by Halloween Jack at 8:42 AM on September 23, 2018 [7 favorites]
I have a female friend who's been involved in HEMA for several years. Does tournaments, owns her own longsword, the whole deal. Seems pretty awesome, and I think it's really cool that women seem to be very much a part of that community.
posted by slkinsey at 9:25 AM on September 23, 2018
posted by slkinsey at 9:25 AM on September 23, 2018
Huzzah! Excellent story! Thanks.
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:42 AM on September 23, 2018
posted by MovableBookLady at 9:42 AM on September 23, 2018
Edith Margaret Garrud (1872–1971)
In 1913, the Asquith government instituted the so-called Cat and Mouse Act whereby Suffragette leaders on hunger strikes could legally be released from jail in order to recover their health and then re-arrested on the original charge. 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.
Don't miss the awesome contemporary illustration of Edith facing down a dozen cops.
Imagine their surprise, they came expecting to arrest a few malnourished women, and then they meet Edith.
She's on the rejected princesses page too I notice.
She deserves the kung-fu action movie treatment. I haven't seen the 2015 movie mentioned on RP, but I have the feeling it's not the one I want. I want it to be as over the top as any Marvel film.
posted by adept256 at 2:36 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
In 1913, the Asquith government instituted the so-called Cat and Mouse Act whereby Suffragette leaders on hunger strikes could legally be released from jail in order to recover their health and then re-arrested on the original charge. 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.
Don't miss the awesome contemporary illustration of Edith facing down a dozen cops.
Imagine their surprise, they came expecting to arrest a few malnourished women, and then they meet Edith.
She's on the rejected princesses page too I notice.
She deserves the kung-fu action movie treatment. I haven't seen the 2015 movie mentioned on RP, but I have the feeling it's not the one I want. I want it to be as over the top as any Marvel film.
posted by adept256 at 2:36 PM on September 23, 2018 [4 favorites]
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posted by MartinWisse at 4:09 AM on September 23, 2018 [1 favorite]