91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Event    From 2/7/1888  To 16/7/1888

Matchgirls' strike

Matchgirls' strike

A strike of the women and teenage girls working at the Bryant and May Factory. Annie Besant had published an article about the poor working conditions at the factory, 'White Slavery in London'. This angered the management who tried to get the workers to formally refute the article. When they refused the management sacked one of them and the strike was on. They held meetings at Christ Church Hall and were supported by Eleanor Marx, Annie Besant and members of the Fabian Society including Shaw and Sidney Webb. Charles Bradlaugh spoke in Parliament supporting the strike.

has a much fuller account.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in to see them

This section lists the memorials where the subject on this page is commemorated:
Matchgirls' strike

Commemorated ati

Annie Besant - E3

This plaque was lost sometime July 2021 - August 2022. 

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Bowler plaque - Match Girls

The plaque punningly represents "match girls" - very nice. Hanbury Hall is wh...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Fairfield Works

Fairfield Works Fairfield Road. The scene of the match girls strike of 1888. ...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Hanbury Hall - blue oval plaque

This plaque has a shortened version of the text on the old white plaque.

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Hanbury Hall - white plaque - removed

Christ Church Hall Built in 1719 as a French Hugeonot {sic} church it stood b...

91³Ô¹ÏÍø

Other Subjects

Mary Wollstonecraft

Mary Wollstonecraft

Writer, philosopher and feminist before her time. Born Primrose Street, Spitalfields. Her radical book "Vindication of the Rights of Woman" (1792) in which she described marriage as "legal prostitu...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Philosophy, Seriously Famous, Denmark, France, Norway, Sweden

10 memorials
Chrystal MacMillan

Chrystal MacMillan

Liberal politician, barrister, and NUWSS, and internationalist. Jessie Chrystal Macmillan was a suffragist, peace activist, barrister, feminist and the first female science graduate from the Unive...

Person, Gender Issues, Law, Peace, Politics & Administration, Scotland

1 memorial
Westfield College

Westfield College

Founded in 1882 by Constance Louisa Maynard and Ann Dudin Brown, as a residential women's college modelled on women's colleges already established in Oxford and Cambridge. The name probably came fr...

Group, Education, Gender Issues

3 memorials
Henry Labouchere

Henry Labouchere

MP and journalist.  Born London of a rich banking family; Baron Taunton was his uncle.  Married an actress.  Responsible for the criminalisation of all male homosexual activity; prior to his effort...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration, Italy

1 memorial
Maya Angelou

Maya Angelou

Author and poet.  Born Marguerite Ann Johnson in St Louis, Missouri, USA. She died, aged 86 years, on 28 May 2014 at her home in Winston-Salem, Forsyth County, North Carolina, USA. Her body was cr...

Person, Gender Issues, Poetry, USA

1 memorial