Exhibition honouring the Matchgirls Strike opens in Parliament with support of Stratford and Bow MP Uma Kumaran
The Matchgirls Strike of 1888 is being celebrated with a weeklong exhibition in Parliament, facilitated by a union leader, our local MP, and a descendant of one of the matchgirls.
On Tuesday, 17 July, Stratford and Bow MP Uma Kumaran hosted the opening ceremony for ‘The Matchgirls Strike of 1888’ exhibition in Parliament, to mark 138 years since the matchgirls sparked the modern trade union movement.
The exhibition, a series of explanatory posters in the Upper Waiting Hall, will be available for visitors to Parliament to view for a week. It tells the story of the Matchgirls, young women from Bow’s Bryant & May matchstick factory who went on strike to protest their horrific working conditions.
These conditions included gruelling fourteen-hour days, poor pay, and the slow poisoning caused by working with white phosphorus, also known as ‘phossy jaw.’ This poisoning began with a toothache and would slowly erode the entire jaw, with one in five cases causing death.
In 1888, one of the Matchgirls was dismissed after speaking to a journalist about her terrible working conditions. This inspired collective strike action among the Marchgirls. At first, they were only demanding that their colleague get her job back, but they decided to continue their strike and succeeded in securing better pay and safer working conditions.
The Matchgirls’ Strike of 1888 went on to inspire the Great Dock Strike of 1889, and is largely credited with laying the grounds for the modern labour movement.
‘The Matchgirls were women and girls who stood up for themselves and took their power into their own hands,’ said Uma Kumaran, MP for Stratford and Bow at the opening ceremony.
I’m a firm believer in the same, if you want a job done right, you have to get a woman to do it.’
Kumaran also hosted an Adjournment Debate on the Matchgirls’ Strike of 1888 in Parliament yesterday, July 16, her first ever as MP. In the debate, Kumaran said, ‘As we honour these women and celebrate how far we’ve come, we also know that in the words of another incredibly powerful woman, “great is the work yet to be done.” […]
There are 3.9 million working women in the UK who are in severely insecure work.’
The exhibition in Parliament was organised by the Matchgirls Memorial Charity, with support from the workers’ union GMB.
Sam Johnson, Board Chair of the Matchgirls Memorial Charity and the great-granddaughter of Sarah Chapman, one of the original Matchgirls, also spoke at the opening ceremony. Speaking about Chapman, Johnson said, ‘We’re incredibly proud of her. She was just one of a number of them, we know that they all […] worked collectively to make everything happen.’
Deputy Prime Minister Angela Raynor also made an appearance for a photo-op and to view the exhibition.
The Matchgirls Memorial Charity is currently pushing for a statue of the Matchgirls to be erected in Tower Hamlets.
If you liked this, read Celebrating Sarah Chapman and the other unsung heroes of the Match Girls Strike
