Barton-Wright’s Later Years
At some unspecified point, probably in early 1902, Barton-Wright had a falling-out with his “star” champion and instructor, Tani Yukio. According to Barton-Wright’s own report of the incident, recorded forty-eight years later when he was interviewed by Gunji Koizumi, Tani had been “troublesome” and had not been keeping appointments. When Barton-Wright proposed to dock his wages, Tani threatened him and the argument developed into a physical fight, which Barton-Wright claimed to have won.
At about this same time, the Bartitsu Club closed its doors for the last time. Subsequent speculation had it that the enrollment fee and tuition fees had been too high; it is also likely that Barton-Wright had simply over-estimated the number of wealthy Londoners who shared his passion for exotic self defence systems.
Armand Cherpillod returned to Switzerland, where he continued to work as a professional wrestler. He also became instrumental in introducing Jiujitsu, which he had learned from his fellow Bartitsu Club instructors, to Germany and other countries on the European continent. Tani, Uyenishi and Vigny all remained in London and established their own self defence schools, with the Japanese instructors focussing on jiujitsu while Vigny continued the tradition of eclecticism.
Tani made the best of it, by joining forces with an experienced show business promoter named William Bankier, a colourful character who had been a successful variety hall strongman under the name “Apollo, the Scottish Hercules.” Bankier’s shrewd management further established Tani as a star performer, a great novelty in the popular field of professional wrestling, and the fame of his jiujitsu spread throughout England and then all of Europe.
Unfortunately for Barton-Wright, the new-found popularity of jiujitsu and then judo completely eclipsed that of Bartitsu, and in the self defence craze that followed between 1905 and 1914, he found himself on the sidelines of the movement that he had started. Although Barton-Wright reportedly continued to teach Bartitsu into the 1920s, he never again achieved the public prominence of his heyday between 1899 and 1902.
After the Bartitsu Club closed down, Barton-Wright continued his work in electrotherapy, establishing various clinics around London. He had no formal medical training and he was often viewed with suspicion by the medical establishment. His business was the subject of several lawsuits and bankruptcy proceedings. With the advantage of a hundred years of hindsight, we can say that the therapies that he was promoting were of varying quality. Some, like the Ultra-Violet Ray Lamp and the Thermo-Penetration Machine, were among the early ancestors of modern cosmetic and medical apparatus (the sun bed and diathermy machine, respectively). Other devices were of questionable value and some of them may actually have been quite harmful.
In any case, Barton-Wright persisted in this field for the rest of his career, eventually coming to specialise in the use of various heat and vibration treatments to alleviate the pain of rheumatism. By the time Gunji Koizumi tracked him down for an interview, in 1950, Barton-Wright was a spry elder of ninety years, full of old war stories and evidently still proud of his art of Bartitsu. Later that year, he was presented to the audience at a large Budokwai gathering in London; but sadly he was never really to receive the accolades owing to him as the true pioneer of the Japanese martial arts in the English-speaking world.
Edward William Barton-Wright died in 1951 and, according to the late martial art historian Richard Bowen, was buried in “a pauper’s grave, because there was no money for a proper grave.”
[Originally written by Tony Wolf 15/02/07]
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By Chaim, Tuesday, 16th December 2008 @ 6:55 am
Very cool. It’s a pity that he didn’t receive the recognition he deserved. But he made his mark on history.
By James, Tuesday, 16th December 2008 @ 10:38 am
He certainly did that. Thanks for commenting Chaim.
By ming han, Tuesday, 4th May 2010 @ 2:20 pm
hi, what were the specific causes of bartitsu’s failure and the closing of the bartitsu club?
i need the information for a project but i cant find it anywhere.
thanks in advance
By Bartitsu Society, Tuesday, 4th May 2010 @ 10:07 pm
That’s one of the great Bartitsu mysteries. Other than Percy Longhurst’s suggestion that the enrollment and tuition fees had been excessive, my best guess is that Barton-Wright simply over-estimated the number of wealthy Londoners who shared his passion for exotic self defence systems. Also, his own professional interests had evidently shifted into electrotherapy, so perhaps he just let the Bartitsu Club die quietly.
He did keep renting the 67b Shaftesbury Avenue space for some time after the Club apparently ceased to exist, running his electrotherapy clinic there and sub-letting for a while to a fencing instructor.
By ming han, Thursday, 6th May 2010 @ 3:14 pm
ok thank you very much
By Mike75, Friday, 4th June 2010 @ 9:42 pm
A great man, a true pioneer. As a martial artist myself,(shodan Wado ryu) I think that he should be remembered as the pioneer of mma and a man a head of his time. God rest.