Match making In the late nineteenth century matches were made using sticks of
poplar or Canadian
pine wood, twice the length of the finished product. These were secured into frames holding approximately 4,000. Both ends of the sticks were dipped into
sulphur and then into a composition of
white phosphorus (also known as yellow phosphorus),
potassium chlorate,
antimony sulphide, powdered glass and colouring. The level of white phosphorus in the match varied; in 1899 a government report stated that in the UK it was between six and seven per cent, while a
Royal Economic Society report of 1902 put the figure at "usually about five; sometimes as much as ten per cent". Experienced workers could finish 1,400 frames in a ten-hour shift, which created ten million matches. Once the double-ended matches had been dried in ovens, they were placed in a machine to halve them into single matches. They were packed into boxes of a hundred and these then tied into bundles of twelve. Those involved in dipping the matches were usually male; women dominated the workforce involved in the remainder of the process. The inclusion of sulphur—nicknamed
brimstone—was one of the reasons early matches were called
lucifers; although they were also called
congreves. Lucifer matches could be ignited on any surface where
friction could be created with the strike. In the 1840s
red phosphorus was discovered, which was more stable when exposed to the air. This meant matches could be made without any phosphorus, with a striking surface on the box that contained red phosphorus. In 1897 there were 4,152 people working in 25 match-making factories in Britain, 2,658 of whom were adults, 1,492 were aged between 14 and 18, and 2 under the age of 14. Of the factories that produced matches, 23 of them used white phosphorus. They employed 3,134 people; 245 men and 1,276 women were involved in processes that included phosphorus, with the remainder employed in non-phosphorus roles. An occupational disease that affected those who worked with white phosphorus was
phosphorus necrosis of the jaw, also known as phossy jaw; the condition is not associated with red phosphorus. Phossy jaw developed by inhalation of phosphorus vapour—particularly when the ingredient was heated—which caused
osteonecrosis of the jaw bone. This manifested itself in, initially, toothaches and flu-like symptoms, then tooth loss, abscesses, swelling of the gums, the formation of
fistula and
necrosis of the jaw. Mortality was reported in around 20 per cent of cases.
Bryant & May The
match-making company Bryant & May was formed in 1843 by two
Quakers, William Bryant and Francis May, to trade in general merchandise. In 1850 the company entered into a relationship with the Swedish matchmaker
Johan Edvard Lundström in order to capture part of the market of the 250 million matches used in Britain each day. In 1850 the company sold 231,000 boxes of matches; by 1855 this had risen to 10.8 million boxes and to 27.9 million boxes in 1860. In 1880 the company began exporting their goods; in 1884 they became a
publicly-listed company. Dividends of 22.5 per cent in 1885 and 20 per cent in 1886 and 1887 were paid. In 1861 Bryant relocated the business to a three-acre site, on Fairfield Road, Bow,
east London. In the 1880s Bryant & May employed nearly 5,000 people, most of them female and Irish, or of
Irish descent, although the numbers varied with the seasonal fluctuations of the market; by 1895 the figure was 2,000 people, of which between 1,200 and 1,500 were women and girls. The matchboxes were made through domestic outwork under a
sweating system. Such a system was preferred because the workers were not covered under the
Factory Acts. Such workers received 2 to 2
penny (d) per
gross of boxes. The workers had to provide glue and string from their own funds. The workers were paid different rates for completing a ten-hour day, depending on the type of work undertaken. The frame-fillers were paid 1
shilling (s) per 100 frames completed; the cutters received 2 d for three gross of boxes, and the packers got 1s 9d per 100 boxes wrapped up. Those under 14 years-of-age received a weekly wage of about 4 s. Most workers were lucky if they took the full amounts home, as a series of fines were levied by the foremen, with the money deducted directly from wages. The fines included 3 d for having dirty feet—many of the workers were bare-footed as shoes were too expensive—or having an untidy workbench or talking; 5 d was deducted for being late; and a shilling for having a burnt match on the workbench. The women and girls involved in boxing up the matches had to pay the boys who brought them the frames from the drying ovens and had to supply their own glue and brushes. One girl who dropped a tray of matches was fined 6 d. Bryant & May were aware of
phossy jaw. If a worker complained of having toothache, they were told to have the teeth removed immediately or be sacked.
Political activism The matchmakers had been involved in organised political action in the 1870s and 1880s. An attempt to introduce a tax on matches in April 1871 was strongly opposed by the match makers and was criticised in the national press. The day after a mass-meeting at
Victoria Park, London, up to 10,000 match makers— mostly girls and women between the ages of thirteen and twenty—marched to the
Houses of Parliament to present a petition. They were harassed by police on the way, who unsuccessfully tried to block their way.
The Manchester Guardian described that "policemen, strong in their sense of officialism, and bullying in their strength, approached the verge of brutality".
Queen Victoria wrote to the
prime minister,
William Gladstone, to protest about the tax and the day following the march, the proposed tax was withdrawn. The matchmakers went on strike in 1881, 1885 and 1886 over low wages and the punitive fine structure. The actions were all unsuccessful. The historian Lowell Satre considers that the match makers were more concerned over pay and the fines than they were about safety. ==Strike==