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

Dr. Flora Murray

Dr. Flora Murray

Born near Dumfries, Scotland. The picture source explains that the bag was embroidered by a soldier patient c.1917 and that it depicts either Flora or her work and life partner Dr Louisa Garrett An...

Person, Gender Issues, Medicine, Scotland

1 memorial
Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

Lesbians and Gays Support the Miners

Formed in 1984 by Mark Ashton and his friend Mike Jackson, this group was only wound down in 2015. The London group used the bookshop Gay's the Word as their HQ. The largest fund-raising event was ...

Group, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration

1 memorial
Emmeline Pankhurst

Emmeline Pankhurst

Born Lancashire. Mother of Christabel, Sylvia, Henry (known as Frank, died aged 4), Adela and Henry (Harry). 1886 the family moved from Manchester to Hampstead Road, London, where she ran a fancy ...

Person, Gender Issues, Politics & Administration, Seriously Famous

8 memorials
OutRage!

OutRage!

From the picture source website: "OutRage! is the world's longest surviving queer rights direct action group. Our witty, imaginative, daring, and irreverent style of non-violent civil disobedience...

Group, Gender Issues

1 memorial