There are two main types of matches: safety matches, which can be struck only against a specially prepared surface, and strike-anywhere matches, for which any suitably frictional surface can be used. Most of these young workers entered the factories as piecers, standing at the spinning machines repairing breaks in the thread. Copyright, The British Library Board.
Here are some of the jobs that children would have done in Victorian times in Birmingham and the Midlands. But always, always, there is Paris where, for many years I spent three months a year.
Sulphur matches - Student Activities References 1 , 1986 page 63 2 , 1908 page 247 3 , 2009 page 59 4 , 23rd June, 1888 5 June, 1888 6 , 1914 page 19 7 , July, 1888 8 , 1936 page 106 9 , 2009 pages 93-94. Much of the venom was aimed directly at the Home Minister, Henry Matthews.
How Did The Factory Act Improve The Conditions Of Workers? Early matches were made from blocks of woods with cuts separating the splints but leaving their bases attached. In 1901, Gilbert Bartholomew, managing director of , announced it had stopped used yellow phosphorus. The Factory Act prohibited the employment of children younger than nine years of age and limited the hours that children between nine and 13 could work. Let us hope that better times await the poor match-box maker. She is currently working on a history of everyday life in Victorian Britain. This kind of match was quite expensive, however, and its use was also relatively dangerous, so Chancel's matches never really became widely adopted or in commonplace use. This chemical caused yellowing of the teeth, hair loss, and phossy jaw, a type of bone cancer. When did children start working?