Phossy Jaw & The Match Stick Girls Strike of 1888

In the 1800’s taking a job at a Match Factory could end in a very slow and agonizing death as your body began to rot from the inside out. 

Time Stamps

0:00 -  Intro 

0:41 - Matches

2:20 - Working conditions

6:50 - Cornelia

10:06 - Phosphorus 

14:17 - The Dangers of White Phosphorous

16:46 - Phossy Jaw 

20:15 - Factory Conditions

22:05 - Annie Besant

25:33 - A Safer Way

26:41 - The Walk Out

28:23 - The Aftermath

31:38 - Banning White Phosphorus 

Sources:

https://www.historic-uk.com/HistoryUK/HistoryofBritain/Match-Girls-Strike/ 

https://www.rcseng.ac.uk/library-and-publications/library/blog/phossy-jaw-and-the-matchgirls/ 

2022 Plaque: https://www.english-heritage.org.uk/visit/blue-plaques/match-girls-strike/ 

https://www.britannica.com/event/Match-Girls-Strike 

https://www.matchgirls1888.org/the-story-of-the-strike 

Additional references listed here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matchgirls'_strike 

Additional reading: Louise Raw, Striking a Light: The Bryant and May Matchwomen and their Place in Labour History (London, 2011) Lowell J Satre, ‘After the Match Girls’ Strike: Bryant and May in the 1890s’, Victorian Studies 26:1 (1982)Seth Coven, The Match Girl and the Heiress (Princeton, 2015)

https://www.joms.org/article/S0278-2391(07)02033-2/abstract?cc=y 

https://www.rdhmag.com/pathology/periodontitis/article/16404967/the-return-of-the-dreaded-145phossy-jaw146  

Netflix Film - Enola Holmes 2 - a fictionalized story about the lead-up to the walkout