The sixty-three year reign of Queen Victoria [1819-1901] was fast approaching its end, and with it the close of the Victorian era. During which the urban dwellers of the impoverished districts of London endured gruelling times. Particularly the slums of the infamous Whitechapel area of the East End, which were plagued by thieves and street ruffians, including a mounting number of brutal attacks, customarily upon female prostitutes, attributed to the mysterious serial killer known as Jack the Ripper. As a consequence, it is suggested that in 1898–1902 the mixed martial art system known as Bartitsu was developed as an effective means of self-defence, allowing men and women to live without fear of attack.

Bartitsu is identified as the first mixed martial art system to combine both the Western and Eastern martial arts systems utilising methods developed to incapacitate or restrain bigger and stronger assailants. At the time Bartitsu was not considered a competitive sport, its aim being to quickly take control and safely resolve a situation by integrating the fighting methods of early bare-knuckle boxing, with low kicks, grappling and rudimentary forms of weaponry.

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