Julia Beelaerts van Blokland

Jkvr. Julia Susanna Electa Beelaerts van Blokland also named Julie Beelaerts van Blokland (15 June 1886 — 11 July 1981) was a Dutch fencer. She was a pioneer, being one of the earliest Dutch female fencers. Her fencing career was from 1911 to 1921 and competed in the highest level competitions in that era winning several prizes. As captain of the Dutch team, she became the first international Dutch female fencer in 1911 at the 1911 England–Holland women's fencing competitions together with the four other Dutch competitors.

Julia Beelaerts van Blokland

Personal information
Birth name	Julia Susanna Electa Beelaerts van Blokland
Nickname(s)	Tante Juusje
Born	(1886-06-15)15 June 1886 The Hague, the Netherlands
Died	11 July 1981(1981-07-11) (aged 95) Wassenaar, the Netherlands
Years active	1911-1921
Sport
Sport	Fencing
Club	Salle De Vos, The Hague
Coached by	Prof. J. De Vos

Biography

Beelaerts van Blokland was born on 15 June 1886 in The Hague as a member of the Beelaerts van Blokland family, an old Dutch patrician family. She held the noble title of jonkvrouw. Her father was policitian Gerard Beelaerts van Blokland and her mother was editor Johanna Maria Kneppelhout van Sterkenburg. She had one older sister and had five brothers, including politicians Frans Beelaerts van Blokland, Willem Adriaan Beelaerts van Blokland and Johannes Beelaerts van Blokland.

Fencing

Beelaerts van Blokland was a fencer at Salle De Vos in The Hague. She was one of the earliest female fencers in the Netherlands. Together with four other females of Salle De Vos (H. Luden, C. van Doorn, E. van den Bergand H. van den Berg) she went to London, United Kingdom for the 1911 England–Holland women's fencing competitions. Beelaerts van Blokland was the captain of the Dutch team. In Londen they competed against female fencers of the Bertrands Fencing Academy. This was the first international fencing competition for Dutch women. The ladies fenced well, but lost as a team both on 16 March and 17 March from the British team that included British champion Millicent Hall and Julia Johnstone. A week later, after coming back in the Netherlands, she had a match against C. van Doorn during a main fencing event in The Hague.

While there was the international competition in London 1911, it was two years later a first national women’s fencing competition was held. Female fencers from Breda and The Hague competed against each other in the 1913 Breda–The Hague women's fencing competition on 27 April 1913. In this competition Beelaerts van Blokland won the second prize, losing from T. van de Berg, also of Salle De Vos. Soon after this first cometition she took her revanche. She became champion of Salle De Vos in May 1913 after an exciting battle with T. van de Berg.

At the end of 1913 she went with four other Dutch women to the international 1913 Alfred Hutton Memorial Challenge Cup in London. Beelaerts van Blokland was eliminated in the first round. She was in her pool beaten by British fencers Rosamund Johnstone and Charlotte Walker.

As part of the celebration of the new hall of Giovanni Giandomenici, a fencing academy in Amsterdam, she participated in an assaut in February 1914.

Beelaerts van Blokland traveled on 23 May 1914 to Batavia, Dutch East Indies with the ship Prins der Nederlanden.

In March 1917 she won the second prize in a national competition in The Hague. In an exciting battle she lost to Esther Bekkers-Lopes Cardozo, who won the competition. In April 1918 she finished 6th at the national competition in Amsterdam At the 1919 Netherlands women's fencing championship, the first official national women's championships she disappointed and finished in seventh place. Her last competition was a national competition in The Hague in May 1921 where she finished seventh.

Fencing style

In a 1911 report, her "calmness" of fencing was appreciated. In 1913 her fencing style was described as "very fast and elegant". In 1914 it was pointed out that Beelaerts van Blokland had like the other fencers of Salle De Vos another fencing style compared to Esther Bekkers-Lopes Cardozo of Salle Giandomenici from Amsterdam. Her "graceful pullings" were described as opposite to the style of Bekkers-Lopes Cardozodescribed that was described as “more lively, more fiery and less different from the men's technique”.

Later life and death

Beelaerts van Blokland married in 1926 at the age of 40 to Willem Hendrik Warnsinck. Beelaerts van Blokland had the nickname “Tante Juul” (translated: aunt Juusje). In 1928 they had a stillborn son N. N. Warnsinck. After the death of her husband, she died in Wassenaar on 11 July 1981 at the age of 95. She was burried on 16 July 1981 in Wassenaar.

Notes

In De nieuwe courant newspapers of 23 March 1914, it appears she was married to lieutenant Dulier, of the German Legation. However, information about them together cannot be found somewhere else.

Other websites

• Image of Beelaerts van Blokland in 1917