Out Now: The Bodyguard Unit!

The Bodyguard Unit

Edith Garrud, Women's Suffrage, and Jujitsu

By Clément Xavier, Lisa Lugrin, and Albertino Ralenti

The Latest from Lerner Graphic Universe!

In the early 20th century, women in England were demanding the right to vote—and often faced violent retaliation. Rather than back down, the suffragist group the Women’s Social and Political Union formed an all-women security unit. Activist leader Emmeline Pankhurst asked Edith Garrud to train them. These “jujitsuffragettes” fought against abuse and arrest while pursuing long overdue rights.

Edith Garrud was a pioneering instructor of women’s self-defense and a pivotal figure in British women’s suffrage. This graphic retelling of Garrud’s life reveals the resilience and (sometimes physical) resistance of her era’s voting-rights activists.