Good morning everyone,

This week I was hit in the face by a man! Don't worry I'm fine and it was a mistake – basically I was behind a man who was asking the staff at the station a question, and he gesticulated "that way?" quite expansively, and his hand hit my face with the full force of a quite expansive gesture.

Naturally he apologised very profusely, and because I was confused (I had not expected to be hit in the face) I apologised at least three times as profusely as he did.

Point here is that it's an ill wind that blows nobody any good, because now you are going to enjoy reading about some women who would very much not have apologised in that situation.

Here's an article by Anna Freeman, who wrote a novel about a woman pugilist in Georgian England. It's all based on things that did happen in that era! Some good sniping at one another in adverts here:

The section that caught my imagination was a paragraph about 18th-century female prize-fighters. The book reproduced an advert from 1728 that a woman by the name of Ann Field had placed in The Daily Post, challenging Elizabeth Stokes to fight her:

“I, Ann Field, of Stoke Newington, ass driver, well-known for my abilities in my own defence… having been affronted by Mrs Stokes, styled the European Championess, do fairly invite her to a trial of her best skill in Boxing, for 10 pounds…”

https://www.historyextra.com/period/georgian/the-bloody-world-of-georgian-female-boxing/

That article also mentions Lady Barrymore, "The Boxing Baroness". I love doing research for this newsletter because it has me reading things I would never otherwise have found – in this case, a blog about Staffordshire figurines – anyway, lots of great Lady Barrymore facts here:

It must have been true love for in June, 1792, the couple claimed to have eloped to Gretna Green. Seems they may never have reached Scotland but perhaps they were married soon after. The new Lady Barrymore enjoyed sparring with her husband—bare-fisted, as was the practice in those days.

http://www.mystaffordshirefigures.com/blog/the-boxing-baroness

It's not only women boxing for sport and fun that has a cool history, check out this interview with Dr Wendy Rouse who has written a book on the history of the women's self defence movement:

First-wave feminists sought to raise awareness about the sexual harassment and violence that women faced on the street, at work, and in the home. Advocates of self-defense insisted that all women should learn boxing or jiu-jitsu not only to protect themselves physically but to empower themselves psychologically for the political battles that lay ahead. Women expressed a newfound sense of empowerment through their physical training in self-defense that helped them resist harassment, assault, sexism, and disfranchisement. Women’s self-defense figuratively and literally challenged the power structure that prevented women from exercising their full rights as citizens and human beings.

https://tomcallos.com/read-tom-callos/2018/1/18/interview-with-wendy-l-rouse-on-her-own-hero-the-origins-of-the-womens-self-defense-movement

Have a great weekend!

Alex.