1910 England–Belgium women's fencing competition

1910 England–Belgium women's fencing competition
Venue	Bertrands Fencing Academy
Location	London, United Kingdom
Dates	31 March 1910
Nations	2
Teams	2

The 1910 England–Belgium women's fencing competition was a women's fencing competition in London on 31 March 1910. In this competition British fencers of the "Fencing Club" of the Bertrands Fencing Academy in London competed against a female fencing team of fencing hall Verbrugge from Antwerp, Belgium.

This fencing competition was probably the first international fencing competition in the history of women's fencing. The competition was won by the Belgian team.

Background

While fencing was already practiced by women during the 19th century, fencing was in this era a male-dominated sport. In the United Kingdom the first national women's championships were held annualy from 1907. During the early 20th-century female were not allowed to participated the Summer Olympics, with exception at the 1908 Summer Olympics where one female fencer participated at the open foil demonstration event. Women's fencing was introduced in 1924 at the Summer Olympics.

Preparations and travel

After the championships of the “Ladies Fencing Club” of the Bertrands Fencing Academy in London, a selection was formed consisting of the best fencers. On 25 March it was announced 15 Belgian fencers would go to England.

The eight Belgian selected fencers were: Adrienne Machiels, Marie-Anne Brauss, C. Pungs, C. Francken, Suzanne de Gottal, Jula Preetorius, Germaine Lowet and Leni Preetorius. They were accompanied by Professor Cyrille Verbrugge and Emma Lambotte, president of the Ladies Fencing Club.

The Belgian team went by boat to England. It was described in the media as something historic. For instance, Belgian newspaper Le Matin wrote about the arrival of team: "The arrival of the Antwerp women was an event because never before had such a large group of fencers crossed the sea to go to England to defend our colours".

Competition

Bout	Fencer 1	Fencing Hall	Fencer 2	Fencing Hall 2
1	Stanford	Brussels (?)	Johnstone	London
2	R. Macrae	Antwerp	A. Stokes	London
3	Adrienne Machiels		Cleone Benest	London
4	Marthe Pungs	Antwerp	Millicent Hall	London
5	Marie-Anne Brauss	Antwerp	Carter	Oxford
6	C. Pungs	Antwerp	M. Edwardes	Salle Mimiague
7	Millicent Hall	London	prof. Cyrille Verbrugge	Antwerp
8	C. Francken	Antwerp	Pelissier	London
9	V. Campbell	Brussels (?)	Batten Pool	London
10	Suzanne de Gottal		D. Johnston	London
11	Jula Preetorius	Antwerp	Alice Walker	London
12	Emma Lambotte	Antwerp	D. Cheetham	London
13	Germaine Lowet	Antwerp	Olga de Meyer	Salle Mimiague
14	Leni Preetorius	Antwerp	Julia Johnstone	London
15	Marthe Pungs	Antwerp	Felix Bertrand	London

Source:

Responses

The meeting was praised in the Belgian media, with great respect to the Belgian fencers. For instance L'Indépendance Belge wrote:

Our national chauvinism will be very pleasantly surprised to learn of the great success of our young fencers who gave perfect replies to their opponents from across the Channel... ...This festival of arms was a sensational success.

Belgian newspaper Le Matin wrote:

The assault... ...was a resounding success. The young Belgian fencers responded brilliantly to their charming English opponents. All these graceful fencers announced the "cuts" in a truly friendly and sporting manner.

Aftermath

The same year nogotations started for a follow-up competition with a team from the Netherlands and possibly a friendly match with the three countries. This resulted in the 1911 England–Holland women's fencing competitions in March 1911.