What was the significance of the Match Girls’ Strike in 1888?

• Tasks
• Background
• Teachers' notes
• External links
• Connections to Curriculum

In 1888 the match girls employed by the company Bryant & May in the east end of London went on strike.

On 23rd June 1888, Annie Besant (1847-1933), a campaigner for women’s welfare and rights published an article called ‘White Slavery in London’ in her weekly paper, The Link. She revealed the terrible working conditions and low wages suffered by the young women and girls employed at the factory.

Besant’s article gained a great deal of publicity because the Victorians believed that only ‘inferior races’ engaged in the practice of slavery. In 1833 Britain abolished slavery in most parts of the Empire. To find out that women worked in such dreadful conditions in the match factories shocked many respectable Victorians.

Use the original documents from 1888 in this lesson to find out about the match girls’ strike and assess its significance in the history of trade unions for unskilled workers.

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Tasks

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Background

The ‘match girls’ worked long hours for very low wages, and could lose part of their wages in fines for such offences as arriving late or talking or going to the toilet. According to Annie Besant in her article called ‘White slavery in London’, these workers were born in the slums and forced to work from childhood.  They ‘were undersized because underfed, oppressed because helpless, flung aside as soon as worked out’.

Still worse, their working conditions were dangerous. The fumes from the phosphorous used to make matches were poisonous. Workers could get necrosis or ‘phossy jaw’, a form of bone cancer. It began with pain and swelling in the teeth and jaw, then foul-smelling pus formed. The jaw turned green and black as the bone rotted away and, without surgery, death could be the result.

The factory owners sacked the women who they suspected of talking to Besant. In response, Besant helped the rest of the women in the factory to form a trade union, which came out on strike. With the support of some of the press and the generosity of the public, money was collected to aid the striking women. Many people stopped buying Bryant & May matches.

At first, the owners of the factory stated that they would not take the strikers back into their employ. But on 21 July they gave in to the demands of the ‘match girls’, ended the fines system and re-employed those who had been sacked, ending the strike. However, it was not until 1901 that Bryant & May finally stopped using dangerous yellow phosphorous in their matches. The newspaper source in this lesson highlights how workers died as result of the firm’s earlier lack of concern for the safety of their workers and observance of existing factory regulations.

This was the first time a union of unskilled workers had succeeded in striking for better pay and working conditions in London, although other unions were developing in the country in the cotton industry and for seamen on Tyneside. Will Thorne led a London strike of gas workers in 1889 and later that year, the London Dock strike was led by Ben Tillett.

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Teachers' notes

This lesson uses sources from The National Archives to examine the working conditions experienced by those working in the match factories of Bryant & May. It shows how women and girls protested about their working conditions in 1871 and 1888.

The first source is an illustration showing match workers protesting about a tax on matches, 24^th April 1871, by William Douglas Almond and second source is a photograph entitled ‘Members of the Matchmakers’ Union’ at the Bryant and May factory, 1888. These sources enable students to think about the face value of two different types of visual evidence as well as explore the connection between the two sources.  Earlier in 1871, women had shown their agency in protesting about the impact of a match tax on their living conditions. The photograph from 1888 shows they were taking steps to protect their rights at work and had formed a match worker’s union.

The third source shows plans from the Home Office for answering a Parliamentary question from the Liberal M.P. for Bethnal Green South West, Edward Pickersgill, about a case of phosphorous poisoning at the Bryant and May factory. It is important to note that files in the Home Office collection at The National Archives reflect a diverse range of domestic matters including factories.

Finally, students look at a series extracts from a newspaper entitled ‘The Daily Chronicle’ describing cases of ‘phossy jaw’, 2 June 1898. Here students find out about the response from the authorities to the actions of Bryant & May regarding cases of workers who contracted the disease. Why was the match girls’ strike important in the context of the information provided by this source? Students could also discuss the role of the press and how these events are reported. Why was the match girls’ strike therefore significant in development of ‘new unionism’?

Please note that content in this lesson has been redeveloped from content in our Power Politics & Protest focused topic website, which has been archived as the interactive parts no longer work.

Sources

Illustration image: Photograph showing three matchboxes called Bryant & May ‘Pearl’ safety matches, dated 1890-1, London, England © The Science Museum.

Source 1a: An illustration showing match workers protesting about a tax on matches, 24^th April 1871, by William Douglas Almond (1866-1916) from Cassell’s Century Edition History of England, published circa 1901. © Alamy images.

Source 1b: Photograph entitled ‘Members of the Matchmakers’ Union’ at the Bryant & May factory, 1888, © Wellcome Images

Source 2: Plans for answering a Parliamentary question on phosphorous poisoning at the Bryant and May factory, 1898, Catalogue ref: HO 45/9849/B12393D

Sources 3: An article from a newspaper entitled ‘The Daily Chronicle’ describing a cases of ‘phossy jaw’, 2 June 1898, Catalogue ref: HO 45/9849/B12393D.

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External links

Find more documents and pictures from the TUC history online collection, including Annie Besant’s ‘The Link’.

Useful video from Royal Holloway, University of London on the significance and legacy of the Match girls’ strike.

More sources on the Match girls’ strike 1888 and information about its aftermath.

Connections to Curriculum

Key stage 4

AQA GCSE History: Britain: Power and the people: c1170 to the present day: Match girls’ Strike

Key stage 5

AQA GCE History: Challenge and transformation: Britain, c1851–1964: Challenges to the status quo, c1886–1914: Social change; trade unions and new unionism.

Edexcel GCE History: Industrialisation and social change in Britain, 1759–1928: forging a new society: The impact of workers’ unions on working conditions, 1759– 1928: the match girls’ strike.

OCR GCE History: Liberals, Conservatives and the Rise of Labour 1846–1902: Salisbury’s ministries of 1885–1892 and 1895–1902; domestic policy.

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