Heritage: My Fair Lady & the Match Girls Strike

The Match Girls Strike in 1888 was a significant event in the history of organised labour.

Back in 2020 I wrote about the strike at the Bryant and May factory – click here to read the story.

The musical play My Fair Lady is based on Pygmalion by George Bernard Shaw. He was a supporter of the strike and is said to have based his Eliza Doolittle character on Kate Sclater who was born in Southampton. She is believed to have been one of the two women circled in the above image.

 Samantha and Graham Johnson have been behind this long running campaign and Sam’s great grandmother was a strike leader. Their committee are in touch with the social housing company, Stonewater Ltd, who own the site in Chapel, Southampton where Matchgirl strike leader Kate Sclater was born. A memorial to her in Southampton looks promising.

They have recently found her grave, sadly totally unmarked, in Barkingside in East London, and have contact with a Great Grandson. They now have the legal right to add a memorial to the grave.

This July they have had a Matchgirls exhibition in the Upper Waiting Hall of the Houses of Parliament, through which MPs and Peers pass. It consists of thirteen large panels covering from the beginning of the Strike to current projects such as next year’s 200th anniversary of John Walker discovering the ‘Friction Match’ in Stockton on Tees.

There was also an Adjournment Debate in the Commons on Wednesday 16th July titled ‘Commemorating the 1888 Matchgirls Strike’. This was led by Uma Kumaran, Labour MP for Bow and Stratford, who also sponsored the exhibition – pictured below with Samantha and Graham Johnson.

A blue plaque was put on the Bryant and May factory in 2022.

Today no matches are produced in the UK and Swedish Match are the world’s largest manufacturer.