Alfred Hutton

Alfred Hutton (born 1839, Beverly, Yorkshire, Eng.—died 1910, London) was an English fencing master. He organized numerous fencing exhibitions, displays, and lectures, which helped to revitalize interest in the sport in England at the end of the 19th century. He also was instrumental in organizing Britain’s Amateur Fencing Association (1895), serving as its president until his death.

Hutton did much to modernize sabre technique in England. A captain in the King’s Dragoon Guards, he also tried, without success, to reinstate the sword as a military weapon in the British army. Moreover, he was a strong proponent of the cane as a weapon of self-defense.

A prolific and colourful writer, Hutton produced four fencing-related books: Cold Steel (1889), The Swordsman (1891), Sword Play (1892), and The Sword and the Centuries (1901).

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