1910 England–Belgium women's fencing competition

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|||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.|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||London|||||
|12|Emma Lambotte|Antwerp|D. Cheetham|London|||||
|13|Germaine Lowet|Antwerp||Salle Mimiague|||||
|14|Leni Preetorius|Antwerp|Julia Johnstone|London|||||
|15|Marthe Pungs|Antwerp|Felix Bertrand|London|||||

<small>Source:</small>

## Responses

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

Belgian newspaper _Le Matin_ wrote:

## Aftermath

The same year negotations 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.

## Infobox (sports competition event)

- **event**: 1910 England–Belgium women's fencing competition
- **venue**: Bertrands Fencing Academy
- **location**: London, United Kingdom
- **dates**: 31 March 1910
- **nations**: 2
- **teams**: 2
- **next**: 1911 England–Holland women's fencing competitions, 1911 England–Holland