Established in April 2012 by Duncan McNulty the Bartitsu Amateur Froum aims to teach and develop Bartitsu and provide a physical and mental workout to its members. Trying to combine the intellectual research or Western Martial Arts with the physical discipline of Eastern Martial Arts, the forum welcomes all who come to study and practice Bartitsu.
In essence Bartitsu is Victorian Mixed Martial Arts. Predating the rise of Bruce Lee and Jeet Kune Do and the modern mixed martial arts phenomenon, Bartitsu started the concept of using what works no matter what fighting system it comes from. Incorporating techniques from countless other martial arts Bartitsu combined them to create a defensive system suitable for the Victorian gentleman in the streets of Victorian London.
The originator of Bartitsu was Edward William Barton-Wright who was a British Engineer who spent time working in the Empire of Japan. Already a pugilist he encountered Jujitsu and returned to London with the concept of combining the best elements of existing martial arts to create his ‘new art of self defence’. Taking English Pugilism for the firsts, French Savate for the feet, Japanese Jujitsu for close range and Swiss cane fighting for long range he created a system that for a while was widely popular.
