1826

The matchstick women

 

Know as 'the matchstick women' - women who worked 14 hours a day in the East End of London and who were exposed to deadly phosphorous vapours on a daily basis. In 1888 took strike action against the dominating, patriarchal world of matchstick making.

 

Working with white phosphorous – which was added to the tips of matches to enable a “strike anywhere effect” – was highly toxic and responsible for the devastating disease known as “phossy jaw”. This nickname was given by the match makers to the particularly nasty condition “phosphorous necrosis of the jaw”. The effect literally causing the jaw bone to rot.

 

Doctors soon began treating these women for the disease – which would often spread to the brain leading to a particularly painful and horrific death, unless the jaw was removed. And even then a prolonged life was not guaranteed.

 

But even though the risks were obvious, this was the Industrial Revolution – before employers were legally required to create safe working conditions. This meant that women on low wages continued to work long hours, while exposed to the toxic impact of white phosphorous and the devastating consequences this would have on their health.

 

Annie Besant, a well known socialist exposed the conditions within the factory in her article White Slavery in London. This infuriated the factory owners and they attempted to force the workers to sign a paper stating that they were happy with their working lives. The women refused to do this and following the sacking of one of their own, they decided to take action. By the end of the day, 1,400 women and girls were out on strike.

 

Ultimately, the matchstick girls saw all their demands achieved. Disappointingly, though, it wasn’t until 1906 – almost 20 years later – that white phosphorous was made illegal in the use of matchsticks. This eventually eliminated the disease in the UK. Similarly, in the US, the government chose to place a “punitive tax” on white phosphorus matches. And the tax was so high it made manufacturing them unrealistic.