Annie Besant and the Matchgirls

One hot June day in 1888 the journalists at 'The Link' newspaper were surprised to find dozens of young girls crowding into their offices, however surprise turned to shock as the reason for their visit began to unfold. The young women were workers at Bryant and May's match factory who had walked out of employment on behalf of their friends who had been fired for petty reasons. In those days before the Welfare system their actions were unprecedented and admirable.
The journalist who was determined to bring their story to the whole country was Annie Besant.

The Bryant and May factory stood in Fairfield Road which ran off of Bow Road. Its working conditions were horrendous as the matches had to be dipped in yellow phosphorous, a dangerous substances which led to what was known as 'phossy jaw' a form of cancer of the face.

In Annie Besant the matchgirls found a willing champion for their cause. In the following copy of 'The Link' her article was headed 'White Slavery in London' and went on to describe how the match girls, some as young as thirteen worked from 6am to 6pm with just two short breaks.

From their meagre wages her readers were told the women had to house, feed and clothe themselves, the wages were further decreased if they left a match on the bench and by the cost of paint, brushes and other equipment they needed to do their work. Then apart from the likelihood of developing 'phossy jaw' there were there dangers of losing a finger or even a hand in unguarded machinery.

The answer from the employers was to try and bully the woman back to work, but this failed when another worker was dismissed for no good reason and the whole workforce of 1.400 women walked out and and went on to set up their strike committee rooms in Bow Road.  While the women were on strike they were paid from the strike fund.

Eventually their employers conceded that working conditions would be improved and the fines abolished, with this and an improvement in pay the women went back to work and gradually yellow phosphorous was phased out in the production of matches.

This was quite a difference considering only six years before Mr Bryant, wishing to curry favour with the then present Prime Minister Mr Gladstone, arranged to have a statue erected of him in front of St Mary's church. Nothing wrong with this you might think until you learn that to pay for it he deducted a certain amount each week from his workers wages. When it was unveiled the matchgirls demonstrated by throwing stones, but this had little effect of the messers Bryant and May that was to come six years later when the women down tools and walked out.

There had been strikes at the factory before with little change in conditions, but it was to be these young women that caught the public imagination, maybe the reason was because they weren't afraid to state their case and were prepared to march and hold meetings and of course they faced the employers and won.

Ben Tillett, a union leader of the time,  paid tribute to the Match Workers whose strike he called 'the beginning of the social convulsion which produced the New Unionism'.

The  year following the matchgirls strike the gas workers and general labourers formed a union which secured an eight hour working day, and in the same year 60.000 dock workers called a strike which virtually close one stretch of the Thames for over a month. Through the matchgirls it seemed the working class had realised its power.

For anyone tracing their ancestry might like to see if one of the strikers were among their ancestors, if so you can check through the Strike Fund Register:

http://www.unionhistory.info/matchworkers/browse.php?Page=1&Book=Match+Workers+Strike+Fund+Register

Social and political reform seems not to have satisfied Annie Besant's hunger for some all-embracing truth to replace the religion of her youth. She became interested in Theosophy, a religious movement founded in 1875 and based on Hindu ideas of karma and reincarnation. As a member and later leader of the Theosophical Society, she helped to spread Theosophical beliefs around the world, notably in India.

Annie Besant first visited India in 1893 and later settled there, becoming involved in the Indian nationalist movement. In 1916 she established the Indian Home Rule League, of which she became president. She was also a leading member of the Indian National Congress.
Mahatma Gandhi said that Annie Besant awoke India from the deep sleep.

She died in India on 20 September 1933