The Matchstick Girls Strike of 1888: When Your Job Made Your Face Glow in the Dark

In the summer of 1888, a group of underpaid and overworked young women at the Bryant & May match factory in London decided they’d had enough. Working conditions were so abysmal that workers developed a horrifying condition called phossy jaw—a necrosis of the jaw caused by exposure to white phosphorus, where bones literally glowed in the dark before disintegrating. The factory, of course, insisted everything was perfectly fine. This paper explores the industrial, economic, and social conditions that led to the strike, the horrifying realities of phossy jaw, and how a group of young women—armed with nothing but righteous indignation and, presumably, a few glowing smiles—sparked a labor movement. Through academic insight and an appropriate dose of snark, we’ll unpack one of the most overlooked yet important moments in labor history.