The Matchgirls worked hard, and played hard and sometimes, they even fought hard!

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“Bryant and May have a rough set of girls. There are 2000 of them when they are busy. Rough and rowdy, but not bad morally. They fight with their fists to settle their differences, not in the factory for that is forbidden, but in the streets when they leave work in the evening. A ring is formed, they fight like men and are not interfered with by the police.”

George Duckworth 1897