Event    From 2/7/1888  To 16/7/1888

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.

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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. 

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Bowler plaque - Match Girls

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

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Fairfield Works

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

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Hanbury Hall - blue oval plaque

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

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Hanbury Hall - white plaque - removed

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

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Other Subjects

The Black Cap

The Black Cap

Public House. It was originally called the Mother Black Cap after a local legend concerning a witch, and had that name, according to licensing records, as early as 1751. In the mid 1960s it became ...

Building, Food & Drink, Gender Issues

1 memorial
Sarah Reddish

Sarah Reddish

Sarah Reddish was a Bolton-based trade unionist and suffragette, who was active in the cooperative movement. A supporter of women running for local elections as a springboard to gaining national vo...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Sarah Parker Remond

Sarah Parker Remond

African American abolitionist, lecturer, suffragist, polyglot, UCL & Bedford College graduate.  Sarah Parker Remond was an American lecturer, activist and abolitionist campaigner. Born a free ...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Race Issues, Italy, USA

1 memorial
William Thomas Stead

William Thomas Stead

Campaigning journalist and spiritualist. Born Northumberland. Committed to the peace movement, women's rights, civil liberties. As part of his campaign against juvenile prostitution he 'bought' 12 ...

Person, Gender Issues, Journalism / Publishing, Paranormal, Peace, Tragedy

2 memorials
Eva Gore-Booth

Eva Gore-Booth

Poet and dramatist, and a committed suffragist, social worker and labour activist. Born as Eva Selina Laura Gore-Booth in County Sligo, the younger sister of Constance Gore-Booth, who was later kn...

Person, Gender Issues, Poetry, Ireland

1 memorial

Previously viewed

Greenwich Foot Tunnel - north

Greenwich Foot Tunnel - north

E14, Saunders Ness Road, Island Gardens

There is an identical plaque at the entrance to the tunnel on the south bank of the Thames.

12 subjects commemorated
King Henry VIII

King Henry VIII

Son of Henry VII. Born Born Greenwich Palace, as the spare, not the heir but his brother Arthur predeceased him and their father, aged 15, but not before marrying Catherine of Aragon, who later in ...

Person, Royalty, Seriously Famous

23 memorials
The Day of the Triffids

The Day of the Triffids

A novel by John Wyndham. Most of the world's population has been blinded by a freak meteorite shower. Those who remain sighted have to face the added problem of dealing with the triffids which have...

Fiction, Literature

1 memorial
Essex County Council

Essex County Council

It governs the non-metropolitan county of Essex, and meets at County Hall in Chelmsford.

Group, Politics & Administration

1 memorial