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In this article, Julia Wilson dives into the dismal history of the 1888 Match Girls Strike, and uncovers the truth behind the story portrayed in Enola Holmes 2.
The Match girls strike
The Match girls strike
By Julia Wilson
By Julia Wilson
This Nov., the young detective Enola Holmes returned to Netflix in the second, long-awaited movie. Enola Holmes 2 not only follows the fictional characters in their search for a lost girl and the perplexing mysteries surrounding her but also pays tribute to a real historical event. The Match Girls Strike of 1888 was an industrial action by the young women working at the Bryant & May match factory in Bow, London, and Sarah Chapman was one of the leaders, as well as a character in Enola Holmes 2. By the time of the strike, the working conditions at the factory were incredibly deplorable, so the “match girls” were determined to protest.
The Strike in Enola Holmes 2 from Fictional Horizon
For over 70 years, Bryant and May's horrible truths were locked away, but an article acknowledging the working conditions brought them to light. According to The National Archives, on June 23rd of 1888, a woman’s rights campaigner Annie Besant published an article titled ‘White Slavery in London’ in her paper The Link. She showcased the poor working conditions at the factory, and it gained a substantial amount of publicity. Victorians were appalled to learn that there were still dreadful labor conditions in Britain, where slavery had mostly been abolished.
The “match girls” were forced to work long hours for extremely low wages, and could even lose parts of their wages if they did things such as arriving late, going to the bathroom, or talking. As Besant stated in her article, they “were undersized because underfed, oppressed because helpless, flung aside as soon as worked out.” They were forced to work from childhood, with some of the workers being girls as young as six years old, and the others teenagers and young women. To make matters even worse, the Foremen were physically abusive and thwarted any attempts of complaints reaching the management. Although, the match girls were anything but weak. They were known to settle their own differences with fist fights in the streets after they left work. According to George Duckworth, a public servant at the time, “a ring is formed, they fight like men and are not interfered with by the police.”
The match girls from Wikipedia
Phossy jaw from The Conversion
As well as the inhumane conditions brought on by the match girls' employers, there were dangers that came with the factory and job itself. As stated by The Matchgirls Memorial, the formerly red tips of the matches had been replaced with white phosphorus, which when exposed to a person, could cause “phossy jaw”, a kind of bone cancer. First, teeth would fall out and then the bone was eaten away, and it could even lead to death in some cases. The girls were employed to dip wooden sticks into white phosphorus to create “strike anywhere” matches, but what they did not realize was that such close proximity to the phosphorus caused their jawbones to deteriorate. It was not until 1901 that Bryant and May announced that they would stop using white phosphorus.
After Annie Besant published her article, the factory threatened to sue her for libel and ordered that their workers sign, saying that the information in the article was false. They refused. The furor resulting from all the commotion led to a sacking, which was the match girl’s last straw. So on July 5, 1880, 1400 young women walked out on strike. A three-person deputation of Mary Naulls, Mary Cummings, and Sarah Chapman was invited up to see Besant, and she agreed to help them with their plans of forming a Strike Committee. On July 17, 1880, the London Trade Councils and Strike Committee met with the directors of Bryant and May, and astonishingly, all of their demands were met. Fines were abolished, the girls were given a room away from the workplace to eat meals, all grievances were laid before the firm, all the girls who left would be taken back, and other systems were put in place that made the factory much more humane.
The Committee from BBC
When watching Enola Holmes 2, many people most likely do not think twice about the story and the real event behind it. But the Match Girls Strike was a powerful movement that opened the eyes of many who thought they were living in a newly fair world. The strike changed labor laws and the lives of many match girls living in the 1800s, and it paved the way for much-needed changes in the industrial setting. Although much more still needed to be done, the strike served as a beacon of hope for oppressed girls-- and all workers-- everywhere.
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