a new art of self defence

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The New rt of Self Defense

A collection of Articles by E.W. Barton-Wright (originator of Bartitsu)

Foreword by Peter Valentine

April 28, 2014


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ForewordWhen researching 19thcentury fencing and combat techniques, I came across Edward William Barton-Wright and his

Bartitsu system of martial arts. Much of the online material about him is based upon a set of articles he published in

Peasons magazine in 1899, but the referenced material was always transcribed and the images of poor resolution.

This document attempts to draw together the five articles he published in their original format and at a good image

resolution so that the included text and images are readable and of good quality.

This material was drawn together from the Hathi Trust web sites archives of Pearsons Magazine. Specifically it is

contained within

Volume VII Jan-Jun 1899 (http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000041652219;view=1up;seq=9)and

Volume XI Jan-Jun 1901 (http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000093231219;view=1up;seq=9)

The articles are included here in their order of publication starting in 1899 with the two on the New Art of Self

Defense, followed by How to Pose as a Strong Manand then later in 1901 Self-Defence with a Walking Stick.

On a personal note, I find the article on How to Pose as a Strong Manrather indicative of the man himself. Barton-

Wright obviously learned eastern martial arts on his travels to Japan, and is credited with having been thefirstto

bring them to England. However, his expertise appears to be in self-promotion rather than martial arts. He

essentially takes what he learned in Japan and with a couple of native Japanese (Uyenishi and Tani) taught a

variation of that as his own system. Likewise after working with M. Vigny in his school on French stick fighting he

publishes a set of articles on stick fighting that he has integratedinto his Bartitsu system.

While it appears that he was indeed among the first to introduce eastern martial arts into London at the time, the

growing set of new (and perhaps more competent) teachers arriving from the east quickly overwhelmed his unique

status and drove him out of the martial arts business. His Bartitsu Academy of Arms and Physical Culture (Bartitsu

Club) was only open for 3 years from 1899 to 1902. Likewise, Barton Wright also quickly dropped Bartitsu, and

moved into electrotherapy devices and various forms of medical quackery and physical therapy of the time.

All of that notwithstanding, what follows is an interesting glimpse into late 19th

century notions of martial arts.
http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000041652219;view=1up;seq=9http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000041652219;view=1up;seq=9http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000041652219;view=1up;seq=9http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000093231219;view=1up;seq=9http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000093231219;view=1up;seq=9http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000093231219;view=1up;seq=9http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000093231219;view=1up;seq=9http://babel.hathitrust.org/cgi/pt?id=inu.30000041652219;view=1up;seq=9


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