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

Source:

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.

References

Category:Sport in Belgium
Category:Sport in London
Category:1910 in Europe
Category:1910s in women's fencing
Category:1910s in the United Kingdom