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John Musgrave Waite (c. 1820 – 13 September 1884) was a Victorian fencing master (
He was famous for his public performances of difficult sabre cuts during Victorian ''assault-at-arms''. "Corporal-Major Waite then performed a variety of sword feats, each of which was splendidly executed, viz., cutting an apple on the palm of the hand (held by Mr. Rorke), cutting an apple in a pocket-handkerchief without injuring the latter, severing a bar of lead at a stroke, and cutting through a sheep."
John Musgrave Waite (c. 1820 – 13 September 1884) was a Victorian fencing master (sabre
A sabre ( French: sabʁ or saber in American English) is a type of backsword with a curved blade associated with the light cavalry of the early modern and Napoleonic periods. Originally associated with Central European cavalry such as th ...
, singlestick
Singlestick is a martial art that uses a wooden stick as its weapon. It began as a way of training soldiers in the use of backswords (such as the sabre or the cutlass). Canne de combat, a French form of stick fighting, is similar to singlestick p ...
, 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 ...
, foil), non-commissioned officer in the 2nd Life Guards
The 2nd Regiment of Life Guards was a cavalry regiment in the British Army, part of the Household Cavalry. It was formed in 1788 by the union of the 2nd Troop of Horse Guards and 2nd Troop of Horse Grenadier Guards. In 1922, it was amalgamated ...
.
"A master who had a considerable following between about 1865 and 1880 was John
Musgrave Waite, formerly Corporal-Quartermaster in the Second Life Guards, a regiment in
which the tradition of the sabre had always been maintained. As far as the small-sword was
concerned, Waite had been the pupil of Pierre Prévost, but his speciality was the sabre and
the singlestick, about which he wrote a book called ''Lessons in Sabre, Singlestick, Sabre and Bayonet, and Sword Feats; or, How to use a cut and thrust Sword'', published in 1880. Sir Frederick Pollock, who joined Waite's school in 1868, says that his master had never been able to acquire that lightness of hand which would have enabled him to compete with his French colleagues, but that his lessons were excellent and profitable. Waite's genius lay in teaching the sabre, the practice version of which weapon was then a most formidable affair, far different from the feather-weight Italian sabre used today."
Sword feats
He was famous for his public performances of difficult sabre cuts during Victorian ''assault-at-arms''. "Corporal-Major Waite then performed a variety of sword feats, each of which was splendidly executed, viz., cutting an apple on the palm of the hand (held by Mr. Rorke), cutting an apple in a pocket-handkerchief without injuring the latter, severing a bar of lead at a stroke, and cutting through a sheep."
Works
* ''Self-defence; or, the art of boxing: With illustrations, showing the various blows, stops, and guards.'' By Ned Donnelly; edited by John Musgrave Waite, Weldon & Co., 9, Southampton Street, Strand, W.C., 1879 * ''Lessons in sabre, singlestick, sabre & bayonet, and sword feats : or, How to use a cut-and-thrust sword: with 34 illustrations representing the different positions'', London: Weldon & Co., 1880See also
Alfred Hutton
Alfred Hutton FSA (10 March 1839 – 18 December 1910) was a Victorian officer of the King's Dragoon Guards, writer, antiquarian, and swordsman. He originated the first English revival of historical fencing, together with his colleagues Eger ...
Notes
References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Waite, John Musgrave 1820 births 1884 deaths Historical fencing British male fencers