Sarah Mayer
{{short description|British actor and judoka (1896–1957)}}
{{Use dmy dates|date=April 2022}}
{{Infobox judoka
| name = Sarah Mayer
| residence =
| other_names =
| image = File:Mayerinjudobelt.jpg
| image_size =
| caption = Mayer in her Judo Uniform
| birth_name = Sarah Winifred Benedict
| birth_date = {{Birth date|1896|10|16|df=y}}
| birth_place = London, England, United Kingdom
| death_date = {{death date and age|1957|3|19|1896|10|16|df=y}}
| death_place = Barton-under-Needwood, England, United Kingdom
| death_cause =
| sport = Judo
| coach = Gunji Koizumi
Kanō Jigorō
| rank_ref ={{cite news|title= Sarah Mayer: The First Non-Japanese Woman Awarded Black Belt Rank in Judo|publisher= Judo|date= 13 October 2012|url= http://www.intjudo.eu/Judo_Corner/Womens_Judo/Womens_Judo7|access-date= 2014-11-21|archive-url= https://web.archive.org/web/20141217180917/http://www.intjudo.eu/Judo_Corner/Womens_Judo/Womens_Judo7|archive-date= 17 December 2014|url-status= dead|df= mdy-all}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=L13P2hF33PUC&q=Sarah+Mayer+judo&pg=RA3-PT60|title=The Way of Judo|isbn=9780834829015|access-date=27 November 2014|last1=Stevens|first1=John|date=13 August 2013|publisher=Shambhala Publications }}
| rank = Black belt
| students =
| url =
| footnotes =
}}
Sarah Winifred Benidict Mayer (née Benedict)
(16 October 1896 – 19 March 1957) was an English actress and judoka. She was the first non-Japanese woman to obtain a blackbelt in judo.{{cite news|title= Woman's Judo|publisher= IJF|date= 13 October 2012|url=http://judoinfo.com/mayer.htm |access-date=2014-11-21}}
Biography
Mayer was born as Sarah Winifred Benedict Tapping near Battersea Park in London on 16 October 1896. Her father, Alfred Benedict Tapping was an actor and her mother, Alice Amelia Fishwick was an actress. The couple had three children, of which Mayer was the eldest.{{cite book |last1=Callan-Spenn |first1=Amanda |chapter=Mayer [née Tapping], Sarah Winifred Benedict (1896–1957) |url=https://www.oxforddnb.com/view/10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.001.0001/odnb-9780198614128-e-111787 |title=Oxford Dictionary of National Biography |access-date=5 May 2020 |date=8 August 2019|doi=10.1093/odnb/9780198614128.013.111787 |isbn=978-0-19-861412-8 }}
Mayer went into acting herself in 1906, joining her parents' productions, and by 1914 she was performing in the West End in Harley Granville-Barker's interpretation of A Midsummer Night's Dream. She enrolled in the Academy of Dramatic Art soon after. Mayer first trained in judo by Gunji Koizumi at the Budokwai in the 1920s.{{cite episode | title =Everybody was Kung Fu Fighting: The Rise of Martial Arts in Britain | url =http://www.bbc.co.uk/programmes/b01p2pm6 | series=Series 12 | credits =Series Producer Ben Southwell, Director Andy Hall, Producer Andy Hall, Executive Producer Michael Poole |network=BBC | station =BBC Four | airdate =24 February 2013 | time =19:43–22:00 | season =12 | number =9}}
She married twice, first to timber merchant, Sills Keith Gibbons on 29 January 1919, and then to barrister Robert John (Robin) Mayer on 17 July 1924. She went travelling throughout 1934, initially to India and then east through China and Tibet to reach Japan. There she trained with the local police force, and took an interest in judo. She trained with Ichiro Hatta and reached first kyū. She was even presented first dan by Prince Nashimoto before returning home. In doing so, she became the first non-Japanese woman to obtain a black belt in judo on 23 February 1935.{{cite web | title=Sarah Mayer: The First Non-Japanese Woman Awarded Black Belt Rank in Judo | website=Judo Info – Online Dojo | date=1918-01-26 | url=https://judoinfo.com/mayer/ | ref={{sfnref | Judo Info – Online Dojo | 1918}} | access-date=2019-06-13}}{{cite news|title= 6th International Science of Judo Symposium, Rotterdam|publisher= Judospace|url=http://www.judospace.com/research/case-studies/6th-international-science-of-jud/ |access-date=2014-11-22}}{{cite book|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=xL1wAwAAQBAJ&q=sarah+mayer+judo&pg=PA194|title=A Contemporary History of Women's Sport, Part One|isbn=9781317746669|access-date=14 February 2015|last1=Williams|first1=Jean|year=2014|publisher=Routledge }}
She had a match of judo between Nobuya Uchida, Minister of Railways (Japan) in Tokyo on 1 April, the judge was Kyuzo Mifune.Japanese National Diet Libraly Degital Collection "[https://dl.ndl.go.jp/pid/1235933/1/309 Fuunji Uchida Nobuya]"
After her trip, her second marriage broke down and they divorced shortly after. Mayer met Warwick Parker Ovington, an RAF officer, after the war and in 1951 she took his surname. They lived together in Barton under Needwood, Staffordshire until her death, caused by alcohol dependence on 19 March 1957.
References
{{Reflist}}
External links
- [http://www.bath.ac.uk/corporate-information/richard-bowen-collection-history-of-british-judo/ Richard Bowen Judo Collection at the University of Bath Library]
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Category:Actresses from London
Category:Alumni of the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art
Category:English female judoka
Category:English theatre managers and producers
Category:People from Battersea
Category:Sportspeople from the London Borough of Wandsworth
Category:British women theatre managers and producers
Category:20th-century British women writers
Category:20th-century English businesspeople