By invite, from Sam and Graham Johnson, I will introduce myself to you, as a collector of almost any item connected to 'matches'. I am a...

A hundred years on, we celebrate the heroism of Donalda Charron who in 1924 led the matchgirls (les allumettières) strike at the E. B....

THE FOUNTAIN - THE LOCATION – THE CEREMONY - THE PEOPLE THE FOUNTAIN The idea of a Drinking Fountain most likely arose from Bryant and...

Wow, what a day 5th July was in Bow, London – both in 1888 and in 2022! In my capacity as Chair of The Matchgirls Memorial and Great...

PROPOSAL – REACTION – RETREAT – MOCKERY - CELEBRATION A PARLIAMENTARY PROPOSAL AND DEBATE “. . a tax from matches. I do not mean...

UPDATE Since this blog was written in 2020, the Bow Heritage plaque has been removed. An official English Heritage Blue Plaque was...

UPDATE Since this blog was written in 2020, an official English Heritage Blue Plaque has replaced Alan Cock's plaque. It was unveiled on...

The statue of four time Liberal Prime Minister, William Gladstone, in Bow was called a ‘gift to the east of London’ - and who doesn’t...

Early in the Matchgirls Strike, at the suggestion of Harry Hobart, a Social Democrat Federation activist, a Strike Register was created...