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.
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 focusses 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 for around 4 years at LHFC. He started shortly after moving to the UK. The source he primarily works with is Philippo di Vadi. He’s been teaching for about a year and has really enjoyed seeing his students develop and thrive as fencers. 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 has competed in several tournaments and even medalled in a few.
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.
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.