Match tax abandoned
Event From 1871 To 1872
I871 the Chancellor of the Exchequer, Robert Lowe, proposed a tax on matches. The Bryant and May workers, mainly girls, realised this threatened their jobs and marched in protest on the House of Commons on 24 April 1871. The tax was never imposed. Bryant and May, who must have, at the very least, sanctioned the workers absence during the march, erected a fountain to celebrate.
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