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Matchgirls' strike - Quiz
Contributed by: Wyatt
  • 1. In what year did the Bryant & May match factory strike occur?
A) 1897
B) 1840
C) 1899
D) 1888
  • 2. Where was the Bryant & May match factory located?
A) Manchester
B) Birmingham
C) Liverpool
D) Bow, London
  • 3. Who helped the strikers achieve their goals?
A) The factory management
B) Annie Besant
C) The Royal Economic Society
D) The union of male dippers
  • 4. What was the initial reason for the strike?
A) The dismissal of a worker
B) Dangerous machinery
C) Low pay
D) Long hours
  • 5. What was the name of the union formed after the strike?
A) The London Labor Union
B) Match Factory Workers Association
C) The Phosphorus Workers Alliance
D) Union of Women Matchmakers
  • 6. Which wood was used to make the match sticks?
A) Mahogany or teak
B) Birch or willow
C) Poplar or Canadian pine
D) Oak or cedar
  • 7. How many matches did a single frame hold?
A) Approximately 1,000
B) About 500
C) Exactly 10,000
D) Approximately 4,000
  • 8. Which substance was used in match heads that caused phossy jaw?
A) White phosphorus
B) Powdered sulfur
C) Potassium nitrate
D) Red phosphorus
  • 9. What was another nickname for sulphur used in matches?
A) Congreve
B) Brimstone
C) Lucifer
D) Phosphine
  • 10. What is another name for phosphorus necrosis of the jaw?
A) Match disease
B) Phossy jaw
C) Bone rot
D) Jaw fever
  • 11. Approximately what percentage of phossy jaw cases resulted in mortality?
A) 10 per cent
B) 50 per cent
C) 5 per cent
D) 20 per cent
  • 12. Which type of phosphorus is NOT associated with phossy jaw?
A) Yellow phosphorus
B) Red phosphorus
C) White phosphorus
D) Phosphorus vapour
  • 13. How many matches were created in a ten-hour shift by an experienced worker?
A) Five million
B) Ten million
C) Four thousand
D) One million
  • 14. Who usually performed the dipping process in the match factory?
A) Children
B) Women
C) Men
D) Teenage girls
  • 15. In what year did a government report state white phosphorus levels were between six and seven per cent?
A) 1902
B) 1897
C) 1888
D) 1899
  • 16. Early matches were sometimes called by what name?
A) Flint strikers
B) Phosphor-sticks
C) Brimstones
D) Lucifers
  • 17. What occurred to the matches after being dried in ovens?
A) They were bundled into twelves
B) They were packed into boxes
C) They were dipped again
D) They were halved into single matches
  • 18. How many matches were packed into a single box?
A) Twelve
B) Four thousand
C) A thousand
D) A hundred
  • 19. How many boxes were tied into a bundle?
A) Fifty
B) Twelve
C) Ten
D) A hundred
  • 20. What is one symptom of phossy jaw mentioned in the text?
A) Skin rashes
B) Toothaches
C) Blindness
D) Lung failure
  • 21. In what year was the company Bryant & May formed?
A) 1843
B) 1861
C) 1884
D) 1850
  • 22. Who were the founders of Bryant & May?
A) William Bryant and Francis May
B) Francis May and Johan Edvard Lundström
C) Johan Edvard Lundström and William Bryant
D) William Bryant and an unnamed partner
  • 23. What religious group did the founders of Bryant & May belong to?
A) Methodists
B) Catholics
C) Quakers
D) Anglicans
  • 24. What items were workers required to provide from their own funds?
A) Glue and string
B) Brushes and paint
C) Matches and wood
D) Uniforms and shoes
  • 25. What was the fine for having a burnt match on the workbench?
A) Three pence
B) Five pence
C) Six pence
D) One shilling
  • 26. How much was the fine for being late?
A) 3 d
B) 1 shilling
C) 6 d
D) 5 d
  • 27. In what year did Bryant & May become a publicly-listed company?
A) 1895
B) 1850
C) 1884
D) 1843
  • 28. What happened to a girl who dropped a tray of matches?
A) She was fired immediately
B) She was fined 5 d
C) She was fined 6 d
D) She was fined 1 shilling
  • 29. In what decade did the matchmakers first participate in organized political action?
A) 1860s
B) 1870s
C) 1880s
D) 1890s
  • 30. Which monarch wrote to William Gladstone to protest the 1871 match tax?
A) Queen Victoria
B) Queen Elizabeth I
C) Queen Mary
D) Queen Anne
  • 31. What was the name of Annie Besant's halfpenny weekly paper?
A) The Matchmaker
B) The Worker
C) The Link
D) The London Daily
  • 32. What was one of the major concessions won by the strikers regarding meals?
A) A longer lunch break
B) A separate room for eating
C) Free meals provided by the factory
D) A ban on working during lunch
  • 33. How were grievances to be handled after the strike ended?
A) Through the police
B) Through the press
C) Directly to management
D) Through the foremen
  • 34. What entity opened a match factory in the Bow district in 1891?
A) Salvation Army
B) The House of Commons
C) Bryant & May
D) The Matchmakers' Union
  • 35. In what year did Bryant & May announce they no longer used white phosphorus?
A) 1901
B) 1908
C) 1891
D) 1888
  • 36. From whom did Bryant & May originally import safety matches in 1850?
A) Tony Russell
B) Bill Owen
C) John Edvard Lundström
D) Francis May
  • 37. Why did Bryant & May buy Lundström's British patent?
A) They wanted to stop him from selling matches
B) Lundström could not increase production
C) The patent was expiring
D) Lundström went out of business
  • 38. What newspaper ceased advertising for the Salvation Army's match factory after 1898?
A) The Matchmaker Weekly
B) War Cry
C) The London Times
D) The Daily Standard
  • 39. When did Bryant & May take over the Salvation Army match factory?
A) 31 December 1910
B) 24 February 1900
C) 11 November 2013
D) 26 November 1901
  • 40. The 1908 Act was the UK's implementation of which international agreement?
A) The London Treaty
B) The Geneva Protocol
C) The Paris Agreement
D) 1906 Berne Convention
  • 41. In which BBC series was the strike featured in 2013?
A) The Crown
B) Doctor Who
C) Ripper Street
D) Peaky Blinders
  • 42. At which band's concert were the matchgirls featured in a video tribute?
A) Queen
B) U2
C) The Beatles
D) The Rolling Stones
  • 43. Who wrote the 2019 novel 'Florence and the Mischievous Kitten'?
A) Tony Russell
B) Megan Rix
C) Bill Owen
D) Hannah Dodd
  • 44. In the 2022 Netflix film Enola Holmes 2, who played the strike leader Sarah Chapman?
A) Florence Nightingale
B) Hannah Dodd
C) Beth
D) Megan Rix
  • 45. What part of the match-making process did the Salvation Army fail to automate?
A) Box filling
B) Packaging
C) Labeling
D) Dipping
  • 46. What was the date of the final 'make-or-break' advertisement for Salvation Army matches?
A) 11 November 1913
B) 26 November 1901
C) 24 February 1900
D) 31 December 1910
  • 47. When did English Heritage announce a blue plaque for the Matchgirls' Strike?
A) 2015
B) 2022
C) 1951
D) 1888
  • 48. Sam Johnson is the great-granddaughter of which strike leader?
A) Sarah Chapman
B) Louise Raw
C) Pam McAllister
D) Anita Dobson
  • 49. Who wrote the book 'The Match Makers: The Story of Bryant & May'?
A) Louise Raw
B) Patrick Beaver
C) John Emsley
D) Reg Beer
  • 50. In what year was Reg Beer's book about the Match Girls Strike published?
A) 1983
B) 1989
C) 1988
D) 2011
  • 51. Which author wrote 'Striking a Light: The Bryant and May Matchwomen and their Place in History'?
A) Seth Koven
B) Louise Raw
C) Asa Briggs
D) Pam McAllister
  • 52. What is the specific medical term discussed in the 2012 comparison of 'Phossy' and 'Bisphossy' jaw?
A) Gingival Hyperplasia
B) Maxillofacial Osteomyelitis
C) Phosphorous Necrosis
D) Mandibular Fibrosis
  • 53. In the context of the nineteenth-century match trade, what Latin phrase is referenced in A. J. Arnold's work regarding innovation and economic returns?
A) Labor omnia vincit
B) Ex luce lucellum
C) Caveat emptor
D) Ad astra per aspera
  • 54. The 1890 Fifth Report from the Select Committee of the House of Lords investigated what system?
A) Child Labor System
B) Match Production System
C) Factory Sanitation System
D) Sweating System
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