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.

Diamond Geezer has a much fuller account.

Comments are provided by Facebook, please ensure you are signed in here 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. 

Read More

Bowler plaque - Match Girls

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

Read More

Fairfield Works

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

Read More

Hanbury Hall - blue oval plaque

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

Read More

Hanbury Hall - white plaque - removed

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

Read More

Other Subjects

Sophia Jex-Blake

Sophia Jex-Blake

Physician and teacher. Born Sophia Louisa Jex-Blake in Hastings. She studied at the University of Edinburgh and led the campaign to give women access to university education. She was the first prac...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Medicine, Scotland, USA

1 memorial
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
Catherine Marshall

Catherine Marshall

Catherine Elizabeth Marshall was a suffragist and campaigner against conscription during WW1. She moved her interests from women's votes to peace and worked in Geneva supporting the League of Natio...

Person, Gender Issues, Peace

1 memorial
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
Elizabeth Jesser Reid

Elizabeth Jesser Reid

Founder of Bedford College, anti-slavery activist and philanthropist. Her Wikipedia page is very informative. Elizabeth Jesser Sturch was born on 15 December 1789 in the St Clement Danes district...

Person, Education, Gender Issues, Philanthropy, Race Issues

1 memorial

Previously viewed

8 Grenville Street

8 Grenville Street

The Marchmont Association thoroughly research their plaques and they found some interesting information about Barrie’s home: “Barrie (1937) writes (in the third person) about his first residences ...

Building, Property

1 memorial
Christ Church Charity School, Spitalfields

Christ Church Charity School, Spitalfields

From British History online (mainly): In 1708 a charity school started in Spitalfields, the boys somewhere in Brick Lane, the girls somewhere in what is now Princelet Street. In 1782-3 a new school...

Building, Children, Education

3 memorials
People's Postcode Trust

People's Postcode Trust

From the Trust's website: "The aim of People's Postcode Trust is to support smaller charities and good causes in the Scotland to make a difference to their community for the benefit of people and p...

Group, Benefactor

1 memorial
City of Manchester Heritage

City of Manchester Heritage

We can find no trace of this on-line.

Group, History

1 memorial
Charity scholars

Charity scholars

Looking at London has a page about these little blue people but even there we can find no origin story explaining why and when the first such statues were erected. We note that there seems to be a ...

Group, Education, Philanthropy

23 memorials