Captain Alfred Hutton
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Alfred Hutton FSA (10 March 1839 – 18 December 1910) was a
Victorian Victorian or Victorians may refer to: 19th century * Victorian era, British history during Queen Victoria's 19th-century reign ** Victorian architecture ** Victorian house ** Victorian decorative arts ** Victorian fashion ** Victorian literature ...
officer of the
King's Dragoon Guards The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment was raised by Sir John Lanier in 1685 as the 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed the 2nd Ki ...
, writer, antiquarian, and swordsman. He originated the first English revival of historical fencing, together with his colleagues
Egerton Castle __NOTOC__ Egerton Castle M.A., F.S.A. (12 March 1858 – 16 September 1920) was an author, antiquarian, and swordsman, and an early practitioner of reconstructed historical fencing, frequently in collaboration with his colleague Captain Alfred H ...
, Captain
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, Colonel
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, Captain Percy Rolt, Captain Ernest George Stenson Cooke, Captain Frank Herbert Whittow, Sir Frederick and Walter Herries Pollock.


Early life

Alfred Hutton was born on 10 March 1839 at Beverley, Yorkshire the eleventh and youngest child and seventh son of Henry William Hutton (1787–1848) and his wife Marianne (before 1795-1879), only child of John Fleming of Beverley.In Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
/ref> Henry W Hutton was a captain in the
4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards The 4th Royal Irish Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first raised in 1685 as the Earl of Arran's Regiment of Cuirassiers. It was renamed as the 4th (Royal Irish) Dragoon Guards in 1788 and service for two centuries, incl ...
, retired 1811. Alfred attended Blackheath Proprietary School (Lewisham), matriculated at University College, Oxford, on 25 November 1857. He was intended for the Church, but the outbreak of the
Indian Mutiny The Indian Rebellion of 1857 was a major uprising in India in 1857–58 against the rule of the British East India Company, which functioned as a sovereign power on behalf of the British Crown. The rebellion began on 10 May 1857 in the fo ...
in 1857 turned his thoughts toward a military career, and he left the university without graduating and joined the Army.''Famous Swordsman''. An article in Evening Post (New Zealand), Volume LXXXI, Issue 41, 18 February 191
p. 14
/ref>


Military career

His military career began on 31 May 1859, when he joined the 79th (Cameron) Highlanders as an Ensign. On arrival at the depot of his regiment at Perth he soon proved himself an expert fencer. Upon joining the headquarters of his regiment in India, at the request of his commanding officer, Colonel Hodgson, he organized in the regiment the Cameron Fencing Club, for which he prepared his first work, a 12-page booklet entitled ''Swordsmanship'' (1862), printed at Simla Advertiser Press. On 14 January 1862 Hutton was promoted to the rank of Lieutenant. In 1864 after 4 years in the infantry he exchanged into the cavalry: the
7th Hussars The 7th Queen's Own Hussars was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, first formed in 1689. It saw service for three centuries, including the First World War and the Second World War. The regiment survived the immediate post-war reduction in ...
. After being invalided home in 1865 he joined the
1st King's Dragoon Guards The 1st King's Dragoon Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army. The regiment was raised by Sir John Lanier in 1685 as the 2nd Queen's Regiment of Horse, named in honour of Queen Mary, consort of King James II. It was renamed the 2nd Ki ...
in 1866, and continued to popularize fencing in his regiments. He was gazetted captain on 30 September 1868, and retired from the service in 1873.


Fencing

Hutton started to learn fencing at the age of twelve at the fencing school in St James' Street from Henry Charles Angelo the Younger (1780-1852), appointed Superintendent of Sword Exercise in the Army (1833-1852), author of ''Infantry Sword Exercise'' (1845), which remained the standard Army reference book for sword instruction on foot for 50 years. This school was established by Domenico Angelo Malevolti Tremamondo (1716-1802), renowned Italian fencing master from Leghorn, author of the classic treatise on
small sword The small sword or smallsword (also court sword, Gaelic: or claybeg, French: or dress sword) is a light one-handed sword designed for thrusting which evolved out of the longer and heavier rapier of the late Renaissance. The height of the small ...
''L’École des armes'' (1763, ''The School of Fencing''). Alfred's father was a pupil of Henry Angelo ''the elder'' (1756-1835), son of the founder of this fencing dynasty, Domenico Angelo. After returning from India in 1865, Hutton had become the pupil and friend of William McTurk, Henry Charles Angelo's successor at the school of arms in St James' Street. On leaving the army he focused on practicing modern fencing with foil, sabre, and bayonet, but mainly on the study and revival of older fencing systems and schools. In 1889 Hutton published his most influential work, ''Cold Steel: A Practical Treatise on the Sabre'', which presented an original method of military sabre use on foot, combining the 18th century English backsword with modern Italian duelling sabre. The treatise also offered self-defense techniques based on constable's truncheon and short sword-bayonet, as well as exercise material from 16th century texts, including Marozzo. He successfully advocated the use by cavalry of a straight pointed sword for thrusting rather than an edged sword for cutting. In 1890 he published ''Fixed Bayonets'', in which he insisted that a competently wielded bayonet should beat a good swordsman, but his views of bayonet fighting were regarded in the army as too theoretical for modern practical instruction. He retorted by deploring military reliance on Italian theories of swordsmanship to the exclusion of effective French practice. Hutton's pioneering advocacy and practice of historical fencing included reconstructions of the fencing systems of several historical masters including George Silver and Achille Marozzo. He delivered numerous lectures on, and practical demonstrations of these systems during the 1890s, both in order to benefit various military charities and to encourage patronage of the contemporary methods of competitive fencing, which had hitherto fallen out of popular fashion in England. He also used these lectures and demonstrations to advocate his own theories about military sabre fencing.


Influence upon stage fencing

Hutton successfully introduced realistic, historically accurate swordplay into the contemporary theatrical repertoire. In ''Old Sword Play'' (1892) he wrote: Circa 1899–1902, Hutton taught stage fencing classes for actors via the
Bartitsu Bartitsu is an wikt:eclectic, eclectic martial art and self-defence method originally developed in England in 1898–1902, combining elements of boxing, jujitsu, cane fighting and French kickboxing (savate). In 1903, it was immortalised (as "barit ...
Club, where he also served on the Board of Directors and learned the basics of jujutsu and the Vigny method of stick fighting from his fellow instructors. Alfred Hutton arranged combats for numerous London plays, including: * ''Romeo and Juliet'' at the Court Theatre, performed 17 March 1904 – 5 March 1904 * ''The Comedy of Errors'', performed 17 December 1904 (4 performances) * ''Romeo and Juliet'' at the Lyceum, performed 14 March 1908 – 30 May 1908


Death

He died unmarried at his chambers in 76 Jermyn Street, London, on 18 December 1910, and was buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Church in Astbury, near Congleton, Cheshire, three days later. The following inscription can be found on his grave: On 8 October 1911 a memorial tablet - ''In Memoriam Captain Alfred Hutton Late The King's Dragoon Guards Born March 10, 1839 Died December 18, 1910. A Great Swordsman And Writer On The Art. RIP.'' - was unveiled in the chancel of St Mary's Church (Astbury) by Lieutenant General
Sir Edward Hutton Lieutenant-General Sir Edward Thomas Henry Hutton, (6 December 1848 – 4 August 1923) was a British military commander, who pioneered the use of mounted infantry in the British Army and later commanded the Canadian Militia and the Australian ...
, his nephew.Alfred Hutton's Grave
/ref> Several works of Alfred Hutton have been republished in the past decade: ''Old sword play: techniques of the great masters'' (2001, 2010), ''The sword through the centuries'' (2002) (original title: ''The Sword and the Centuries or Old Sword Days and Old Sword Ways''), ''Cold steel: the art of fencing with the sabre'' (2006).Alfred Hutton's works on WorldCat
/ref>


Family

His mother, Marianne (died on 19 January 1879, aged 87) and two sisters: Harriott (died on 18 January 1906) and Marianne Eleanor (died on 31 January 1908 aged 95) were also buried in the churchyard of St Mary's Church. One of his brothers, Henry John died in 1846 and was buried in the Beverly Cathedral, a memorial tablet: can be found there. His other brother, Edward Thomas Hutton (-1849), was the father of Sir Edward Hutton KCMG.


Collections

Hutton bequeathed his fine collection of fencing and duelling literature, with some admirable specimens of oriental sword-cutlery, to the Victoria and Albert Museum. At least 276 books from his collection of fencing books - Hutton Bequest - can be found in the
National Art Library The National Art Library (NAL) is a major reference library, situated in the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A), a museum of decorative arts in London. The NAL holds the UK's most comprehensive collection of both books as art and books about art, ...
in the V&A Museum. Most volumes bound for Hutton are in vellum, with red leather lettering pieces on the upper covers and backs. Upper covers are gold blocked with Hutton's name in Gothic type and his armorial crest. Further collections of books formerly owned by him are the Corble Collection, located at the Universiteitsbibliotheek at the
Katholieke Universiteit Leuven KU Leuven (or Katholieke Universiteit Leuven) is a Catholic research university in the city of Leuven, Belgium. It conducts teaching, research, and services in computer science, engineering, natural sciences, theology, humanities, medicine, l ...
, and the
Emil Fick Emil Fredrik Fick (18 July 1863 – 20 February 1930) was Swedish fencer. He competed at the 1900 and 1906 Summer Olympics The 1906 Intercalated Games or 1906 Olympic Games was an international multi-sport event that was celebrated in At ...
Library, located at the Livrustkammaren (Sweden).


Commemorations

In May 2013 the Forteza Western martial arts studio in Chicago commemorated Hutton via the dedication of the Captain Alfred Hutton Lounge, incorporating a library, research center, museum of historical swords and weapons, art gallery of 19th century fencing prints and a social space.


Works

* ''Swordsmanship'' (1862), written for the members of the Cameron Fencing Club (Simla) * ''Swordsmanship, for the use of soldiers'' (1866) * ''Swordsmanship and Bayonet-fencing'' (1867) * ''The Cavalry Swordsman'' (1867) * ''Bayonet-fencing and Sword-practice'' (1882) *
Cold Steel
': ''a practical treatise on the sabre, based on the old English backsword play of the Eighteenth century, combined with the method of the modern Italian school. Also on various other weapons of the present day, including the short sword-bayonet and the constable’s truncheon. Illustrated with numerous figures, and also with reproductions of engravings from masters of bygone years'' (1889) * ''Our Daggers: or, how to use the new bayonet'' (1890) * ''Fixed Bayonets. A complete system of fence for the British magazine rifle, explaining the uses of the point, edges, and butt, both in offence and defence: comprising also a glossary of English, French, and Italian terms common to the art of fencing, with a bibliographical list of works affecting the bayonet'' (1890) * ''The Swordsman. A manual of fence for the three arms, foil, sabre, and bayonet. With an appendix consisting of a code of rules for assaults, competitions'' (1891) * '
Old Swordplay
': ''A glance at the systems of fence in vogue during the XVIth, XVIIth, and XVIIIth centuries, with lessons arranged from the works of various ancient masters for the practical study of the use of the picturesque arms borne of forefathers'' (1892)Based on Achille Marozzo's 1536 ''Opera Nova''. This is more often known as
Old Sword Ways
'
* ''Our Swordsmanship'' (1893), lecture at the Royal United Service Institution, Whitehall * ''Notes on Ancient Fence'' (1895), a descriptive account of the 16th century swordplay, at the Albany Club (Kingston upon Thames), by members of the school of arms, London Rifle Brigade under the direction of Captain Alfred Hutton, FSA and Ernest Stenson Cooke, Esq. With notes on 'Ancient fence' by Captain A Hutton and on the bibliography of the art of fence, by Captain C A Thimm, FRGS * ''The infantry sword exercises of 1895'' (circa 1895) * ''A criticism of the infantry sword exercise of 1895'' (1896) * ''Sword Fighting and Sword Play'' (1897), The Indian Fencing Review * ''The Swordsman. A manual of fence for the foil, sabre and bayonet'' (1898) * ''Examples of Ju Jitsu, or Japanese Wrestling for Schoolboys'' (undated, around 1900
Ju jitsu
* ''The Sword and the Centuries or Old Sword Days and Old Sword Ways: being a description of the various swords used in civilized Europe during the last five centuries, and of single combats which have been fought with them'' (1901)


See also

* George Silver * Bolognese Swordsmanship *
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*
Schola Gladiatoria ''Schola Gladiatoria'' (SG) is a historical European martial arts (HEMA) group based in Ealing, west London, Great Britain, founded in 2001 and led by Matt Easton (nom de guerre "Captain Context"). It provides organized instruction in the serious ...


Notes


References

*
Historical Fencing Studies – the British Legacy
' by John Clements, Association for Renaissance Martial Arts. * Wolf, Tony (2012).
Ancient Swordplay: The Revival Of Elizabethan Fencing in Victorian London
'. Freelance Academy Press.


External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hutton, Alfred Historical fencing British male fencers 1st King's Dragoon Guards officers British military personnel of the Indian Rebellion of 1857 1839 births 1910 deaths Fellows of the Society of Antiquaries of London