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Dark History
150: Life Before Worker’s Rights: This Toxic Workplace Turned Girls Radioactive!?
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Bailey Sarian
Have you ever looked around and realized that everything in your house had to be invented by someone? Like a couch? You know, when did someone realize that they wanted a chair but bigger? You never really stop and think about the everyday things in life that at some point were game changers. Well, the same thing is true about matches. Yeah, random, huh? Today, I mean, look, we've got lighters, so matches kind of seem like this old school thing and really unnecessary. I feel like today you only see matches in like a bowl at a trendy restaurant or by the toilet for, you know, those stinky situations. But we really never really use them. Well, back in the 1800s, matches were a huge deal. In the days before electricity, you needed matches to light your candles, your lamps, your stove, you know, so you could cook your fireplace. I mean, everything. Many considered matches to be the most important item in the home. But ironically, the history of matches is dark. Making matches often led to slow, painful deaths. And workers who didn't die had to live with brutal face altering injuries for the rest of their lives. And it led to a legendary strike that changed workers rights forever. So get out those matches you got from a steakhouse three years ago, light that fragrance free candle and get ready for the dark history of the matchstick girls. Hi friends. I hope you're having a wonderful day today. My name is Bailey Sarian and I'd like to welcome you to my podcast, Dark History. Here we believe history does not have to be boring. It might be tragic, it sometimes is happy, but either way, it's our dark history. So all you have to do is sit back, relax, and let's talk about that hot, juicy history. Goss. Before we get into it, don't forget to like and subscribe. I'm always posting new content for you and let me know what you think. I love hearing from you in the comments section and then I read comments at the end. Now let's get into it. Great. So our story today starts in the mid-1800s in England. So Queen Victoria is on the throne and the elites are thriving. The fashion is giving. Bridgerton. But that wasn't, you know, that's not everyone around. 80% of society was part of the working class and the underclass. For the working class, their whole life revolved around work in order to survive. And the underclass were usually impoverished and depended on the charity of others to get by. Now, if you were lucky enough to get a job, working conditions at this time were absolutely terrible. The Industrial revolution was going strong, so there's like a ton of new Machinery being used to mass produce things in factories, and that even means matches. And the factory we're talking about today was a match factory owned by two men, William Bryant and Frank Francis May. Bryant and May were smart and knew they wanted to manufacture a product that people needed to buy, you know, so they would always be profitable. In the 1850s, they started importing matches from Sweden. Originally, they were importing something called safety matches. Now, these matches were supposed to be safe because they didn't spark everywhere when you struck them, like on the side of the box. So, like Joan here, she has some matches. You know, I suck at matches. Every time I try to light them, it never works out for me. I don't know what I'm doing wrong. Are you trying to burn the place down? Anywho, so Bryant and May is raking in thousands of dollars selling the safety matches. So with this success, they decided to cut out the middlemen and make the matches themselves. Well, not themselves, but hire people to make the matches, you know. So in 1861, Bryant and May, they took their profits and they purchased a patent on a special kind of match called the quote strike anywhere match, which is exactly like what it sounds like. You can strike this match anywhere and it would light other matches. They didn't do this very well. So the guys, they knew that they had a bestseller on their hands. The common slang for these matches was called the quote Lucifer match, because in Latin, lucifer means brightly shining one. Great. So once they secured their patent, they opened up a factory in London. Now, Bryant and May, they weren't the only businessmen to have a match factory in London. There were others around, but, like, no one came even close to their success. Now, this is because their strike anywhere matches were coated in a chemical called white phosphorus. Now, people were aware, like, this chemical was not good for them. In the past, there were warnings on products that used phosphorus telling people, like, do not inhale when using this. Pretty much toxic. But I guess in the past when you would use a match, there would be some kind of, like, rotten egg smell. And the white phosphorus, it got rid of that smell. So people were willing to ignore, like, the warning of the phosphorus because they didn't like that smell. You know, it's literally like everything today. Everything is toxic for you. Okay, listen, everything allegedly is toxic for you. And it's like, we know it's bad for us, but we keep using it. Plastic water bottles, bad for us. Microplastics and everything. We don't care. It's like that, but with matches. So even though Sales of these batches were doing very, very well. There, of course, were some shady things happening in the Bryant and May factory. You know, it's one of the best feelings ever. Saving money. Yeah, saving money you didn't even realize you were wasting. If I found out I was still paying $6.99 a month for a streaming service I only used once, I'll cancel that and feel good about my saving skills. All week, I'm like, I gotcha. I found out about that streaming service thanks to Rocket Money. 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Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com darkhistory that's rocketmoney.com dark history rocket money.com dark history By 1864, Francis May left the company after some disagreements on, like, how the company was being run. He was eventually replaced by William Bryant's son. His son's name? Listen, Wilberforce. That's his name. Wilberforce. Yeah. Let's take a beat there, huh? Yeah. Wilberforce Force Bryant. Wilberforce. Yeah. I thought about it a lot. I don't know. Superhero. What is that? What is that name? Where does it even come from? Wilbur Force. I don't know anywho. So he brings in his son. So Wilberforce, he became the manager of the factory, and he was all about, like, increasing profit, you know, and he was like, I don't really care about the workers. We just need more money. So at one point, he had about 5,000 people working for him. Now these people, they were working like 12 to 14 hour days, like a minimum of six days a week. Most of the workers were women, teenage girls and children. Some of these children were like six years old. Matchmaking required workers to be on their feet all day. And the little money they did make, they would have to use to purchase their own tools and supplies in order to work in the factory. So this meant you had to buy your own string, your own glue, your own fuel. Yeah. The workers were allowed two breaks per day, and on these breaks they were only allowed to eat or use the bathroom. That's it. If any rules were broken, they would be given a fine. And this company loved giving out fines. If you were a few minutes late, if you were talking to one of your co workers, if you were going to the bathroom outside of an official break, if you had a messy workspace, you'd be slapped with a fine. So the workers were making such little money, a lot of them couldn't even afford shoes. So the only option they had was to work barefoot. So it's like, of course their feet would get dirty, but then you would get a fine for that. You couldn't win. On top of all that, these women and children were physically abused by the supervisors in the factory. They did this to stop them from like going to management and complaining about their work conditions. They would just like threaten them, you know, attack them so they wouldn't talk. Bryant and May knew they could get away with this because these workers didn't have enough social power to put up much of a fight. They're like, what are you going to do? Exactly nothing. Like many factories at this time, Bryant and May hired their workers from lower class households. They were considered to be uneducated and looked down upon in the upper class. Now, to be fair, they didn't really have other options. This is also why they put up with all the abuse, because you either work and you get abused for pennies or you be homeless on the street and like starve to death. So it's like, which one do you want? So many of the Bryant Inmaine workers were Irish immigrants. And at the time the Irish were being starved out of their own country. So many were like forced to immigrate to England in order to survive. So when they came to England, they were taking whatever job was available. Didn't matter how hard it was or how little they were being paid, it was better than nothing. There was tons of beef between Irish and English people. Many English people, a lot of them refused to even hire them. There were tons of negative stereotypes about Irish People, for example, it was said that the Irish like to drink and get into fights. This was a stereotype for the Irish men and women. So there was a description of the women who worked for Bryant and May at the time that said, quote, 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, they fight like men and are not interfered with by police. So companies, you know, they didn't want to hire them because they didn't want, like, this stereotypical drunk Irish person fighting in their factories. So if they got a job, they found a job. They usually kept the job, you know, because it was hard to go anywhere else. What I'm getting at is they didn't have a lot of options. Most families were so poor, every single person in the household had to pitch in and get a job so they could get food on the table, make rent, stay alive, you know, and as soon as, like, kids could walk, they were essentially, like, put to work. The kids would get, like, sometimes odd jobs in town, like working on farms or, like, at rich people's estates. But once the Industrial revolution rolled around, a lot of kids even worked in factories. So conditions were dangerous, and kids were coming home with some serious injuries, or they, like, wouldn't even come home at all. So the government, like, sent a group to investigate how these factories were treating children. Now, Bryant and May were known for employing kids. So, of course, like, these investigators, they went to take a look at their match factory. You know, rumor was going around that there were, like, several issues at the Brian Enemy factory, especially when it came to, like, their child workers. I guess, like, kids were losing their fingers. They'd fall asleep near the machinery and, like, get badly injured. It was bad. So when the investigators go out to the factory, like, I'm sure a lot of the workers were kind of relieved, hoping that, you know, someone is gonna come in and stop these guys in charge from beating, fining, taking advantage advantage of us and whatnot. You know, maybe these people are going to save us and, like, have our backs. But that's not how it went. When the investigation was complete, they had found that everything at Bryant and May's factory was totally and completely fine. Everything was actually great. It was, like, super. They're like, wow, this is a great factor factory. We love this. They said it was, quote, a very nicely conducted place. I mean, it seemed like the factory investigators were paid off. I mean, Bryant and May, they had more than enough money to do so. But those are Just allegations. Cannot confirm. But they wouldn't get away with it for long because Bryant and May's perfect reputation was about to start crumbling the ground just like everyone's jaws. Thank you. So in order to keep production moving, Wilbur Force. That name, you know, the guy in charge with the name. Great. He stopped caring about any and all safety protocols in the factory. So he felt like he was honestly like above the law and the investigation. To him, it really proved that. He. He's like, see, I'm amazing. I could do whatever I want. So he didn't really think that there was anything wrong with, you know, maybe like, fudging the safety protocols a bit to save money, cut corners, I don't know. But then his workers started getting sick one by one. Listen. Remember the white phosphorus? Well, it turned out to be more than just a little toxic. Do you ever feel like you keep getting stuck in the same routine? I definitely do. And then I go looking for a way to escape reality, but there's nothing really doing it for me these days, you know? And then I found romance audiobooks on the Dipsea app. If you don't know, Dipsea is the app for spicy audiobooks that was created by Women for women. Oh. They've got over 1,000 audiobooks to choose from. All of them written by professional writers and read by very talented narrators. 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For listeners of the show, Dipsea is offering an extended 30 day free trial when you go to dipseystories.com darkhistory that's 30 days of full access for free when you go to Dipse D I P s e a stories.com darkhistory dipset.com darkhistory so in the factory, all of the women and children were constantly exposed, exposed to white phosphorus. That's because on the ground floor of the Factory, there were 300 machines dipping tips of wooden matchsticks into trays of this chemical. So there would be, like, chemical fumes coming from the machines, you know, and it was said that these fumes were very, very strong and, like, would fill the entire factory. So the women and children, they didn't get masks or gloves when working around these fumes. I mean, why, why would they. On top of that, the workers would be forced to take their food breaks inside of the factory. So they'd go from like, working on these machines, touching the chemicals all day, to then, like, sitting down with chemicals on your hands, eating your food. And then when you weren't doing that, you were breathing in the fumes all day. And, like, you just. You couldn't escape it if you worked in this factory. And, you know, they didn't really have a choice. And they honestly didn't know exactly, like, how toxic it was. It actually took a while for the side effects to take over the body. But, like, after a little while, something, not even strange, it was, like, real bad. It started to, like, happen to many of the workers. Something was going on. I guess workers were feeling super nauseous to the point of, like, vomiting everywhere. It was actually said that the workers would leave a trail of vomit on their way home every night. Like, that's how sick they were. They would just, like, vomit all the way home. They also were experiencing intense diarrhea at the same time. So it was just coming out both ends, not ideal. And, you know, they're suffering, so vomiting, diarrhea, not great. And then not long after that, workers seemed to be getting these, like, horrible, super painful toothaches. Now, at first, they just kind of ignored it, thinking, like, it was just a coincidence. Like, maybe from vomiting so much, they were getting a toothache. Maybe they just needed to brush more. I don't know. You know, oral hygiene, like, wasn't a big priority in England at the time. So they just kind of. It'll. It'll work itself out. But then the toothache would spread to their jawline, Then abscesses would form inside of their mouths, and this would make the pain unbearable. So they'd be getting this pain. Ouch. Then their teeth would start to loosen and then just, like, fall out. It was like a horror film. So over the next few months, one or both sides of their jaw would swell to the point where it was, like, almost impossible to chew food. Now listen we're about to get graphic here. Okay, so all these things are happening. Diarrhea, vomit, toothache, jaw swelling, huh? Yes. Then these weird bumps would form on the bottom of their jaws, like down, down here, you know? So these bumps would, like, fill with pus. Listen. The bumps would eventually burst and the pus would leak out of their faces, leaving, like, gaping holes behind. So over the course of a few months, the flesh and bones around their jaws would just start to rot. Their jaws would start to crumble and slowly, piece by piece, just fall off their faces. Yes, their jaw would fall off their faces. Now, it sounds fake, but it's not. Okay. Most of the time, like, the wounds were so severe that the workers would suffer from, like, horrible infections. And this was decades before antibiotics were a thing. So a lot of the time they just didn't survive past the point of their jaw falling off. Now, if you got lucky and you did survive, it didn't get any better because this mysterious disease would then spread to the brain. And best case scenario, they would be left with permanent brain damage. All for matches. So it started to become clear to the workers that this wasn't a coincidence. They were kind of put in two and two together, and they were believing that they were becoming ill because of this chemical that they were working with. I mean, they were inhaling this chemical all day, every day. And it entered, you know, in their body, through their airways again. Eating, they're touching. It's just around them all the time. So the workers who weren't sick yet, they were either in denial that it would happen to them or they were just completely terrified that, you know, they were going to be next. But what were they going to do, you know, quit, Let their family starve? I know it sounds silly because to you and I, we're like, yeah, quit, find another job. But literally, it was like, this was it for, like, this was like, their only option. So what were they going to do? As time goes on, more and more workers were getting sick. And I guess it would actually take around two to five years to develop symptoms after being exposed to phosphorus. So it was like it would slowly creep up on you. Now, sadly, there isn't a number out there, like an exact number of how many workers suffered with this disease because nobody was recording how many cases were happening. The company, Bryant and May, they're like, no, we're not. We're not going to be reporting this. They don't want people to know. But as more and more people got sick, Bryant and May started to get a Bit of a reputation. I mean, their workers were walking home barfing each night and people were kind of taking notice. So Bryant said, quote, we had one case, I think of a child and I think there was one of a young woman, although I forget whether we had two. But they had worked in small places before they came to us. The disease was not contracted in our factories at all. I mean, they were just straight up lying, you know. Meanwhile, workers were complaining about job pain so much that the company had to create a policy to deal with it. So the factory, they had offered the sick workers like less than a dollar to stay home. This was supposed to be some kind of like olive branch to help support them while they recovered. But usually they never recovered. I mean, workers had years of toxic chemical exposure by the time the toothache started. And by that point it was, it was too late. So if you went on this like sick leave situation after a few months, Bryant and May, they just stopped paying the women. You know, they're like, you're on your own, whatever. So many of the workers who got the dreaded toothache, they tried their best to hide it from the supervisors. The jaw pain continued. And as the bone in their jaw started to rot away, then, like even weirder symptoms started. Now apparently there was a phosphorescent glow coming from within their body. You know how I can tell? It's almost the holidays. No, not the calendar. You know, I'm doing my normal online shopping and every site is telling me what date I need to order, like stuff by if I expect to get the stuff in time for Christmas. Big stores are already prepping for the chaos of the holidays, so. So small business owners should too. And that's why I love Shipstation. Shipstation is there to help when your business has outgrown your old shipping solutions. To help you go from hectic to efficient with an all in one order fulfillment system. That system integrates with over 180 of the most popular e commerce platforms, marketplaces and carriers. And their system makes everything so easy. I love that all of your orders and tasks show up on one simple dashboard. That way you can make sure everything on your to do list gets done. Shipstation is the fastest, most affordable way to ship products to your customers with discounts up to 89% off UPS, DHL Express and USPS rates. So it's easy and a great deal. My two favorite things things. Scale your e commerce business with the shipping software that delivers. Switch to Shipstation today. Go to shipstation.com and use code Dark history To sign up for your free 60 day trial. That's shipstation.com code darkhistory. The human body can do a lot of weird things, but I think we can all agree that glowing in the dark, shouldn't it be one of them? You know? Now we actually did a dark history episode on the Radium Girls. Do you remember where like something similar happened. Women were exposed to like a toxic chemical and it caused them to literally glow green in the dark. It was horrifying. So same thing. These people, these women, children, they're all glowing. This is when the disease became known as Fossy jaw. Honestly, when I heard Fosse Jaw for the first time, it kind of sounded like it was the name of a dance. Like do the Fosse Jaw. Do the Fossi Jaw. Like something like that, right? It sounded kind of cute. And then when I first like was researching for this episode and then I looked up pictures and I was like, oh, that is not a dance. That is not a dance. Bailey. On top of everything, it was said that these women also like had a horrible smell to them. And I guess it like smelled kind of garlic. So you have that garlicky smell and then also you had the smell of like the flesh rotting from their faces. It was awful, awful, awful. And the only way to treat this like, mysterious disease at the time, they believed that giving the woman mouthwashes would help and like treat the infection before it spread. But. But it never worked. You know, it didn't work. The only way to address it was to get surgery to remove the rotting jawbone. Now this wasn't common because most people couldn't afford to see a doctor or get surgery. So getting Fossy jaw was pretty much just you were getting a death sentence. Now the workers at Bryant and May, they were not the only ones getting Fossy jaws. Because of the success of the Bryant and May Lucifer matches, eventually other factories like over in America started to use white phosphorus for their matches. And this led to several workers coming down with phossy jaw as well. Now one girl who had to deal with this was a 16 year old girl named Cornelia. And she worked in a match factory in New York for like over two years. Then she started coming down with the same symptoms of Fosse jaw. She got a toothache and then her jaw started to swell and they had extracted her tooth, but her jaw kept swelling, it got bigger and bigger. And then like a hole had formed in the flesh under her jaw. And now at that point her jaw started to leak pus and during all that, she tried to. She tried to power through it. I know she kept showing up for shifts at the factory because she didn't want to lose her job. I know, like, whenever I get cramps, I'm like, I'm out. I can't do it. And then it's like, you hear stories like this and you're like, oh, shit, I suck. It's wild what they put up with back then. But finally, for Cornelia, it got so bad that she had to be rushed to the hospital. And doctors, they had no choice but to remove her lower jaw. But listen, this was the 1800s. So they didn't have this cute little IV drip to help her, like, drift off to sleep with some morphine and then remove her jaw. No, she had. She was awake the whole time. They bring out some kind of chainsaw like device and they remove her jaw. Now, Cornelia, she would go on to survive this insane surgery. I don't know how she did it. Cause she didn't get any. Like, she didn't get any pain medicine, anything that's raw dog in it, okay? Now, on top of that, she ended up having to have another surgery on the other side of her jaw because that side became infected. Both sides of her jaw are gone. Okay? And apparently afterwards, she was still able to talk and eat. So it was considered a success. Cornelia's story gets shared with the press because the doctors kind of want to, like, brag what they did because they're proud of it. So when it goes out to the press, they have these graphic illustrations of her surgery and phossy jaw. And this is like, when it started to put the disease on the map for the general public. So for the first time, people were like, seeing what is going on. I mean, none of this is ideal, but Cornelia was a best case scenario. And her case might have given some people with father bossy jaw some hope. I mean, we don't know. But like, maybe if anything, it just kind of made people aware of the situation. Step one, make people aware. Step two, address the situation. You know, still, at this point, there was a big question mark over the cause of the whole thing. Like, how could Bryant and May not see this coming? Now, it's been documented that Bryant and May were actually fully aware that while white phosphorus gave workers fossy jaw and they just ignored. They looked the other way. They're like, what? That's crazy. We didn't know what. That's nuts. That's so crazy. Whoa. On top of that, here's what they knew that really is not okay, because there was actually a safer alternative out there. Instead of using white phosphorus, they could have been using something called red phosphorus. And this could have been used on their matches the whole time. And it wouldn't allegedly cause Fossy Jaw. But the company, they refused to use it because it was a little bit more expensive and, you know, that would cut into their profits and they didn't want to do that. They need to buy more cigars and suits. Well, once this whole, like, Fosse Jaw thing came out, the reputation of Bryant and May's factory started to go, like, down the toilet. I mean, people would just ask the girls on the street with Fosse Jaw where they worked and they'd be like, Bryant and May. So things are not looking good for the factory, right? And the guys know it. So Bryant, he's still in charge. He's like, how can we do some, like, damage control here? You know, like, we need better pr. So he comes up with a foolproof plan. So as soon as workers would complain about tooth pain or even look like they were in pain, they would take that worker by the hand, lead them to another part of the factory, grab a scary tool and then forcibly yank out their teeth. Which you think they would have known by now that, like, yanking out the tooth wasn't going to solve the problem, but they still did it anyways. And, like, if anyone refused to go along with this little plan, I guess they were fired. In the 1880s, the company grew more. More and more successful. They were making a ton of money and, you know, this was split happily amongst the heads of the company. So this had been going on for decades at Bryant and May. Now, meanwhile, again, it's the 1880s. There were actually groups starting to form outside of the company to protect workers from evil companies taking advantage of their workers. So one of these groups was called the. The Fabian Society. Now, the Fabian Society was a political group in England and they believed in helping the everyday person through labor reform. Essentially, they were bringing, like, awareness to issues within factories. So the Fabian Society got word about what was going on at Bryant and May. So a member of the society, her name was Annie Besant, decided to meet with some of the women from the factory. So she meets with them, she interviews them, and she was horrified by what she was hearing, like, how they were being treated. She's like, I can't believe this. So Annie, she writes an expose and she titles it White Slavery in London. I mean, to be fair, these women were allowed to Go home and have personal lives unlike actual enslaved people. But, you know, I get what she was going for here. So Annie wrote this shocking headline to bring attention to the girls suffering, and she did not hold back. Within her article, she talked about, like, the inhumane factory conditions, the abuse, the low wages, the danger they were facing every single day, the fines, oh, and, I don't know, the fucking chemicals eating their face alive. She then goes on to describe, like, the huge difference between the lives of the rich factory owners and their workers, saying, quote, born in slums, driven to work while still children. Undersized because underfed, oppressed because helpless. Flung aside as soon as worked out. Who cares if they die or go onto the streets? But Annie knew, like her, her article, it really would only go so far. Lots of factories at this time had terrible working conditions. So really all she could do was like, call for a boycott of Bryant and May. Now when the public read this, they actually rallied behind the factory workers and they kind of gave them a title. They started calling them the Match Girls. I don't know about you guys, but I really thought I'd, like, have my skin routine figured out by now, you know? But my skin is always changing. So I find myself switching things up a lot. One week I'm worried about the breakouts, then the next week, oh, my skin is so freaking dry. Oh, my gosh. It's like, pick one, pick a lane. Skin, pick a lane. But that's why I'm so glad I have Apostrophe, the sponsor of this episode. I've been using Apostrophe for years. Okay, listen, you need to get on this because, listen, Apostrophe is an online platform and they connect you with your very own expert dermatology team. 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Right now, we have a special deal for our audience. You can get your first Visit for only $5. Oh, yes. @apastrophe.com DarkHistory when you use our code Dark History. Now, listen, that's a savings of $15. And this code is only available to our listeners. So to get started, you just go to apostrophe.com darkhistory and then click Get Started. Then use our code Dark History at signup and you'll get your first Visit for only $5. A big thank you to Apostrophe for sponsoring today's episode. Now, let's get into the story. Hi. The public started demanding explanations from Bryant and May. Now, instead of these guys like, I don't know, taking the hint and making safer working conditions for the women and children or switching to the safer red phosphorus, Bryant and May decided to strike back at the writer, Annie. So they claimed that her article was full of lies, and they even threatened to sue her. They even forced their workers to sign a letter saying that everything in that article was made up. Now, if they didn't sign the letter, they'd be fired. The Bryant and May workers saw the support from the public, and it kind of. It gave them that security and confidence boost they needed to be able and take a stand against Bryant and May. Now, one of the workers, her name was Sarah Chapman, she refused to sign the letter. Now, it was said that, like, she was immediately fired, but she wasn't. Like, she wasn't gonna let Brian and May win. When she left, she convinced 14 other match girls to go with her and strike. On July 5, 1888, the Bryant and May workers went on strike. And this became known as the Match Girls Strike. As the strike began, people started donating to a fund to support the Match Girls. So they go on strike. Right? And like all of the. A big majority of their workers are on strike. So Brian May was forced to halt production and take a loss on profits. But they were still refusing to acknowledge the suffering that the Match Girls had endured. So the Match Girls went to Parliament, the government, to testify about their experiences in the factory. Now, this was a very big deal at the time. Factory workers didn't just walk into government buildings, period. Okay, you just. Mm, mm. You just didn't do it. And the press was also Taking notice. Two local papers covered the strike, which meant that the public was, like, keeping track of everything that was happening. And the public, anyone reading the newspapers or whatever, they were 100% on their side and agreed that they deserved better. So the women, they go and they testify, and some members of the government were so moved that they even offered their personal support to the women through donations. It was really exciting to hold these guys accountable and have, like, the support of the public and even the government, you know, but at the end of the day, I think these women knew deep down that they were replaceable. And they were terrified that they'd never get their jobs back or even work at all, you know, because if you went to another job and they were like, maybe they were against the strike, they'd be like, you were part of that strike. I'm not going to hire you. You know, plus, who's going to want to hire you when you're missing half of your face? Like, it's. It made things really rough, you know? But Bryant and Mae, they wouldn't. They were not budging. And these women decided they needed to organize. So the Match Girls created a strike committee. The original worker who started the walkout, Sarah Chapman, led the charge along with two other women from the factory. So they're feeling confident from all their support. And the strike committee agreed to sit down with. With representatives from Bryant and May to negotiate. So they had a list of demands. They asked the company to give their workers a raise and a room to actually take their lunch so they didn't have to eat on the floor next to all the toxic chemicals. They also asked the company to stop issuing fines to provide tools for workers, and most importantly, give the strikers their jobs back. I know they're not even asking about, like, fixing their jaws or anything, which is pretty wild. They could have asked for a lot more, but good for them. The Match Girls wanted to create a union so conditions would, like, never get this bad again. And, you know, the public did not like Bryant and May. And after that, they really didn't have a choice. They kind of needed to agree in order to get back into making money. So after only a few weeks, they agreed to improve conditions, increase pay, and stop fining their workers. You could say it's a win, but there's. What about the chemicals? Okay, whatever, Bailey, just, like, be happy. They. They gotta win like this. This is pretty major. Like, striking against a big company is huge. This was, like, a huge success for the women. I'm like, God damn it, Ask for more murder the guys, I'm a little extreme, don't be on my team. But they were, like, confident. Brian and me, they weren't going to, like, backslide. So they agreed to these new terms. And not long after negotiations, they got back to. They got back to work. But this time they were unionized and it was called the Union of Women Matchmakers. Eventually, the union expanded to include male workers and they renamed themselves the Matchmakers Union. So their victory against the factory owners wasn't just for matchmakers in London. These match girls had a huge effect on other workers trapped in terrible factory jobs. So people kind of like took notice of the strike, the negotiations and everything. And soon more and more strikes started happening across London. Gas workers, dock workers, everyone was ready to fight for better treatment. So, like, it was great, right? Great. Yeah, love that. Except there was one big problem. None of the agreements actually did anything about white phosphorus. So the company was supposed to change the factory's working conditions so the woman would stop getting phossy jaw. But they didn't. In the years after the strike, more than 16 women died from phossy jaw. And those are just the ones that we know of. Okay. Because most Fossy jaw cases were never recorded. Some people say it was around 11% of workers got fossy jaw. Others say it was hundreds. But most people agree there's no way to know, like, how many people were affected because these cases were not recorded. So, yeah, I can imagine it was a lot more because everyone was around that gnarly ass, like, chemical. Oh, God. Eventually, in 1893, the government stepped in. Now, the factories needed to be certified by an outside organization and prove that they offered better ventilation and sanitation. So Bryant and May kept using white phosphorus until 1900. So they were told to stop, but they continued to use it for over 10 years. I mean, they put thousands of people's lives on the line and the only consequence they faced was a small fine. Now, the only reason that they stopped using phosphorus was because there was a new, cheaper match chemical that didn't get in the way of them making a profit. So not, you know, not because of the workers or because they cared, because it was cheaper. They're like, more money for me. And finally, after almost 50 years, the Fosse jaw, it stopped. That was fucking rough. The match girls put up with years of terrible treatment at the hands of Bryant and May. Their strike might have, like, not fixed everything, but it did change a lot. Young women were able to, for like, one of the first times, fight back. You know, they were considered unskilled, poor, and replaceable by the men who made money off of their labor. But when they joined together, they were all on the same team. They changed the lives of tens of thousands of factory workers. Even though the Match Girls didn't get everything they were fighting for, their strike inspired decades of workers to unionize and fight for their rights. I guess the lesson here is to work together and take down these bozos in charge, huh? Because, listen, today, when you think about it, yeah, we're not getting, like, bossy jaw like they were back then, but still today, these large corporations are still taking advantage of everyone, huh? You know, and if you threaten to say anything, they'll fire you. Like, this is still a common thing. They'll pay off people. They'll hide whistleblowers. So if we can all just work together and we can, like, really take down these companies, we could do some damage and get better working conditions. I'm mainly thinking about, like, you know what I'm saying? Or, you know, I could just. Yeah. So I guess the takeaway here is to never give up. You know, sadly, it's not like the first time here on Dark History where we've talked about, like, a large company or corporation taking advantage of workers. Remember the Triangle Shirtwaist fire? What was it called? I don't forget. That was, like, episode one. It was kind of like the same thing. Like, they were abusing their workers and then shit did not go well. But it's like we always have to wait until something tragic happens in order to get change. When really, if we just all, like, could work together and demand change before. Before a tragedy strikes. Like, that is the goal here in my mind. You know, in my perfect world, we'd all be, like, really on the same page, working together and demanding that these corporations take better care of us as the workers. Right? But yeah, I mean, who knows of that? I just feel like these stories just keep happening and it sucks. I don't know, like, how do I end this? You know? It sucks. Fossejaw. Don't look at the pictures if you're listening to this on the podcast. It's rough, okay? It must have been pure hell. Oh, my God. Well, speaking of hell, Thanksgiving, huh? It's happening. And you know what happens around Thanksgiving? Millions of us are usually traveling. Yeah, I don't like traveling. Okay, but listen, I'm sure you can agree traveling really sucks. Now you have to pay too much. You have to find a ride to the airport, right? And then the airport treats you like a Major inconvenience. And then the plane, for me, I'm terrified. I don't like flying. Gives me great anxiety. And you're just praying. I hope everything goes fine. It's expensive. Deep breath. But it got me wishing that I lived, like, in the quote unquote, glory days of air travel. I mean, I would see pictures of, like, you know, back in the olden days where people would be flying and it looked luxurious and cool, and people were eating, like, lobster and having champagnes and smoking cigarettes, and it's like, what. What happened to that? Like, what happened to that? Cause look at where we are now. What happened? But naturally, when I start questioning things, I'm like, there you go. This is gonna be a dark history episode. So join me next week to discuss the dark history of air travel. It's actually really fun. At first I was like, is there a story here? But then when I was, like, really looking into it, there is a really interesting story about air travel. Oh, it's been such a journey. It's wild. So I hope to see you next week. Well, friends, thank you for hanging out with me today. Did you know you can join me over on my YouTube where you can watch these episodes on Thursday after the podcast airs. And while you're there, you can also catch my murder mystery and makeup. That's on Mondays. And also, don't forget to subscribe because I'm always here for you with new content. Also, I'd love to hear you guys reactions to today's story. So make sure to leave a comment down below, see what you guys are saying, and maybe your comment will be featured in a future episode. Now let's read a couple of comments. You guys have left me. Xochit the Princess, I think that's your username, left me a comment yelling, bailey, I left for, like, a year. Seven million. It's a party up in here. Yeah. Seven million. I know. Isn't that crazy? No, dude, When I started YouTube, this was back in, like, 2013. I never in a million years thought I would have more than, like, a thousand subscribers. So to me, when I see that number growing, I'm like, what in the world is going on? Like, it's nuts. It's nuts. And. But thank you. It is. It's exciting, I think. I try not to think about it because that's kind of a lot of people. It's a lot of eyeballs. But I appreciate everyone's support, and I'm glad that I, you know, people want to hang out. That's great. Thanks. For coming back, though. Where'd you go for that year? You okay. Okay. Nene Bell, 74881 left a comment on our Dark History of Death episode saying, I told my kids to cremate me and bury me underneath a crab apple tree so I can be fruitful and multiply still like the Bible says, and still be crabby. Lol. My final joke. Lol. Nene. Nene. I don't. I kind of like that. That's not a bad idea. Honestly. I like that. Good for you. Make your demands. All right? I hope you get. I hope that works out for you and they make that come true. I still want to be put in a firework. I think that is just the best, right? No. Okay. Rin Klim left us an episode suggestion. Please do a Dark History on Marion Stokes. She recorded literally 35 years straight of news in the belief of access to knowledge. Oh, wasn't Rin, wasn't this a documentary? I believe I watched this very interesting story and I think definitely I'm writing it down. Thank you for the suggestion. And I will. I'll start Googling around, see what I come across. Well, I appreciate you guys so much for hanging out with me today and watching. And don't forget to, like, leave a comment because maybe you'll be featured in a future episode. And hey, if you don't know, Dark History is an audioboom original. A special thank you to our expert, Susan Campbell Bartoletti, author of Kids on Strike and How Women Won the Vote. And I'm your host, Bailey Sarian. I hope you have a good day. You make good choices and you be safe out there. I'll be talking to you guys later by.