LHFC’s instructors are drawn from our members and the wider HEMA community. They all have years of experience and are insured through LHFC’s membership of the British Martial Arts and Boxing Association.
Longsword
Jamie MacIver
(He/Him)
Jamie is one of the founding members of the club and has been one of the longsword instructors since 2017. He teaches based upon works of the 15th century Italian master, Philippo di Vadi. The study of these sources is relatively uncommon in HEMA, bringing a unique style and approach to longsword within LHFC.
Jamie believes firmly in striking a balance in classes between theory and practice, and his classes emphasise both drills that help students explore how to adapt techniques to work for them and understanding the fencing theory that supports each technique.
Jonathan Robson
(He/Him)
Jonathan started with HEMA in 2016, studying German longsword at the IHA, and competed in his first tournament the same year. He joined LHFC in 2018, adding the teachings of Philippo Di Vadi to his fencing repertoire.
He began teaching longsword at LHFC in 2024, mainly drawing from German longsword texts including the works of Joachim Meyer and Pseudo Von Danzig. An avid tournament fencer, Jonathan is always looking to find applications for historical techniques within a more modern fencing context.
Dan Powell
(He/Him)
Dan has been training longsword since 2018 in the style of Philipo di Vadi and has been described as a ‘by the book’ fencer. He favours a practical approach over theoretical study and prepares exercises designed to ensure students can execute techniques with uncooperative opponents.
Dan enjoys tournament fencing and regularly travels the UK and internationally for HEMA events. His style of fencing focuses on distance management and long ranged attacks.
Tony Lamb
(He/Him)
Tony Lamb is a HEMA instructor specialising in Italian longsword. His journey into HEMA began when he stumbled upon some YouTube videos and was fascinated by the hobby. He trained with LHFC for five years before deciding to teach, as he wanted to share his knowledge and insights.
Tony particularly enjoys teaching the techniques of Fiore dei Liberi, which he believes embody the true spirit of joyful but effective violence. His teaching style emphasises control and technique, while also encouraging his students to ‘move like they have a purpose’. He believes that the pursuit of HEMA is not only about mastering an ancient martial art but also about enjoying the journey and having fun.
Tony has medalled in cutting with the longsword, a measure of his understanding of its deadly mechanics.
Owen Hahn
(He/Him)
Owen has been studying HEMA since 2018 at LHFC. He started shortly after moving to the UK. The source he primarily works with is Philippo di Vadi. He has really enjoyed seeing his students develop and thrive as fencers many of whom have gone on become great fencers in their own right. Since starting HEMA he’s also made friends in the broader community, with friends spread across the UK and a few even further afield. He enjoys tournaments, teaching, and tries to keep up with all the source texts.
Sam Browse
(He/him)
Sam has been teaching longsword at LHFC since early 2025. His route into HEMA began in 2023 via the search for a London-based sports fencing club and LHFC was the first thing that Google showed him. He thought, “that looks really fun” …and it was! He’s been a sword-obsessive ever since. Like the people that taught him (thanks Jamie, Owen, and Dan!) he fences primarily in the style of Philipo di Vadi and is keen to connect the richness of the source texts to modern competitive HEMA. Although he’s no longer an academic, his teaching is also influenced by years in the seminar room as a university lecturer and he enjoys creating open, inclusive spaces to learn and exchange ideas. In addition to longsword, he fences sabre and side sword.
Kelsey Dame
(She/her)
Kelsey has been training longsword since the spring of 2023, primarily in the Jamie MacIver school of fencing (Philippo di Vadi) with a little bit of Fiore and Meyer thrown in. Her main style is “left-handed,” which means she’s become quite proficient in identifying unexpected and creative lines that most fencers don’t realise they need to consider.
Kelsey has been instructing at LHFC since the summer of 2024. She loves introducing beginners to swords for the first time in a safe, inclusive, and enthusiastic environment. Her regular classes are more tactical than dogmatic, as she encourages fencers to experiment to solve problems creatively. She uses historical frameworks to help students find their favored tactics and evolve their own fencing style.
Kelsey enjoys participating in longsword tournaments (she medals regularly in W+ LS and competes in Open LS A) and has attended several UK events as guest instructor.
Rapier
Dan Weir
(He/Him)
Dan first picked up a rapier in 2015, initially studying under Rob Runacres of the Renaissance Sword Club before helping found LHFC in 2016. There, he joined Sam Booth’s rapier class, quickly becoming a dedicated regular. When Sam stepped back in 2019, Dan agreed to take over as LHFC’s rapier instructor.
Not coming from a sporty or martial arts background, Dan passionately believes anyone can study HEMA. He likes his classes to be accessible to people of any ability level and encourages his students to take the fundamental principles from the historical sources to develop their own interpretations of the texts.
Dan favours the single-rapier and focuses on exploring the famous Northern Italian tradition; the elegant and subtle thrust-centric style of masters such as Niccoletto Giganti, Salvator Fabris and Ridolfo Capoferro.
Eduardo Pérez Pellitero
(He/Him)
Edu started his fencing journey in 2007 in the Associació Catalana d’Esgrima Antiga (Barcelona), training La Verdadera Destreza rapier tradition under Diego Marín Padilla. In 2012 he published an introductory book to Destreza “Iniciación a la Verdadera Destreza”, which has sold more than 500 copies and is used across spanish-speaking countries as a modern Destreza reference. He took his public instructor exam in 2013.
Eduardo teaches both theory and practice of Verdadera Destreza in LHFC since 2024, with an emphasis in staying true to the original Spanish sources while developing an effective fighting system. He competes regularly in the UK tournament scene in rapier (main weapon), and rapier & dagger.
Sabre
Kerri McArthur
(She/Her)
Kerri started HEMA in Edinburgh in 2015 with the Dawn Duellists, she then fell in with Ian MacIntyre and Phil Crawley’s Black Boar crowd, where she quickly found her love for sabre and smallsword.
After moving south of the border, she helped set up Black Boar’s Cambridge chapter in 2018 and began teaching soon after. It was then that London Historical Fencing Club invited her to teach sabre, which she readily accepted.
Now based in London, she is a proud member and instructor of both clubs, fighting both sabre and smallsword and regularly seen gushing over sources and others’ interpretations in the pub.
James Tamplin
(He/Him)
James joined LHFC in early 2018 and became club Chair in 2020, before becoming an instructor in 2022.
As assistant instructor for the sabre class, James’ main sources are Hutton and Rowarth, with inspiration taken from others as well.
Smallsword
Mark Rhind
(He/Him)
After practising sport fencing for many years, Mark was introduced to smallsword by Sue Kirk at London Historical Fencing Club in 2017. He has been training since then in both smallsword and rapier.
In 2019, Mark began teaching smallsword at LHFC with a focus on the French school of fencing in the 18th Century.
High Intensity Fencing
Daniel Clay
(He/Him)
Daniel has been doing HEMA since 2017, and since 2022 with LHFC. He specialises in Italian longsword and British military sabre; and his classes focus on using modern methods to train tactics and execution in high pressure contexts.