Dark History - 150: Life Before Worker’s Rights: This Toxic Workplace Turned Girls Radioactive!?

Episode Date: November 13, 2024

Hi friends, happy Wednesdsay! 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 so you could cook, and even your fireplace so you wouldn’t freeze to death. 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 worker’s rights forever.  I appreciate you for coming by, and tune in next week for more Dark History. Want some cool Bailey Merch? Shop Dark History Merch: https://www.baileysarian.com _________ FOLLOW ME AROUND  Tik Tok: https://bit.ly/3e3jL9v Instagram: http://bit.ly/2nbO4PR Facebook: http://bit.ly/2mdZtK6 Twitter: http://bit.ly/2yT4BLV Pinterest: http://bit.ly/2mVpXnY Youtube: http://bit.ly/1HGw3Og Snapchat: https://bit.ly/3cC0V9d Discord: https://discord.gg/BaileySarian RECOMMEND A STORY HERE: [e-mail]  Business Related Emails: [e-mail] Business Related Mail:  Bailey Sarian  4400 W. Riverside Dr., Ste 110-300  Burbank, CA 91505 ________ Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to https://www.RocketMoney.com/DARKHISTORY.  For listeners of the show, Dipsea is offering an extended 30 day free trial when you go to https://www.DipseaStories.com/DARKHISTORY.  Switch to ShipStation today. Go to https://www.shipstation.com and use code DARKHISTORY to sign up for your FREE 60-day trial.  Get your first visit for only five dollars at https://www.Apostrophe.com/DARKHISTORY when you use our code: DARKHISTORY.

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, lamps, stove, so you could cook, your fireplace, 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 doesn't 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 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 best seller 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 matches were doing very, very well, there of course were some shady things happening

in the Bryant and May factory. You know what'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,

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subscriptions saving members up to $740 a year when using all of the app's features. Stop wasting your money on things you don't use. Cancel your unwanted subscriptions by going to rocketmoney.com slash dark history. That's rocketmoney.com slash dark history. Rocketmoney.com slash dark history. That's RocketMoney.com slash dark history. RocketMoney.com slash 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. Now let's take a beat there. Huh? Yeah, Wilberforce Bryant. Wilberforce. Yeah, I thought about it a lot.

He's a, I don't know, superhero. What is that? What does that mean? Where does it even come from? Wilberforce? I don't know. superhero. What is that? What does that mean? Where does it even come from? Wilberforce? I don't know. Anywho, so he brings in a 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 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 coworkers, 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 gonna 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 starved to death. So it's like, which one do you want?

So many of the Bryant and May 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. 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 liked 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 as kids could walk, they were essentially put to work. The kids would get sometimes odd jobs in town, like working on farms or at rich people's estates. But once the industrial revolution ruled 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, they went to take a look at their match factory. You know, rumor was going around that there were like several issues at the Bryant and May 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 I'd 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 of us and whatnot, you know? Maybe these people are gonna 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 Mays factory was totally and completely fine. Everything was actually great. It was like

super. They're like, wow, this is a great 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 to the ground. Just like everyone's jaws. Thank you. So in order to keep production moving, Wilberforce, 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'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

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dipsy dipsy stories dot com slash dark-A, stories.com slash dark history. Dipsystories.com slash dark history. So in the factory, all of the women and children were constantly 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 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 were 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 seem to be getting these like horrible,

super painful toothaches. Now at first, they just kind of ignored of ignored it thinking it was just a coincidence. Maybe from vomiting so much they were getting a toothache, maybe they just needed to brush more, I don't know. Oral hygiene wasn't a big priority in England at the time, so 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 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 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's starting to become clear to the workers that this wasn't a coincidence. They were kind of putting

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 for like this was like their only option so what were they gonna 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 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 toothaches started. And by that point, 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 jaws started to rot away, then 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 a 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 these stuff in time for Christmas. Big stores are already prepping for the chaos

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shouldn't be one of them. 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 Fosse 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 Fosse 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, really. 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 garlicky. 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 women mouthwashes would help and like treat the infection before it spread, 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 Fossey 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 Fossey Jaw. 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 a fosy 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 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 power through it. I know, she kept showing up for shifts at the factory because she didn't wanna 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, because she didn't get any, like, she didn't get any pain medicine, anything. That's raw 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 Fosse 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 are like seeing what is going on. I mean, none of this is ideal, but Cornelia was a best case scenario.

And her case might've given some people with Fosse 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 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 white phosphorus gave workers Fosie 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 Fosie Jaw. But the company, they refused to use it because it was a little bit more expensive, and 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 Fossy 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 Fossosse Jaw where they worked and they'd be like, Brian May. So things are not looking good for the factory, right? And the guys know it. So Brian, 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 that yanking out the tooth wasn't going to solve the problem, but they still did it anyways. And if anyone refused to go along with this little plan,

I guess they were fired. In the 1880s, the company grew more and more successful. They were making a ton of money, and 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 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 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 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 girl's 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 the huge difference between the lives of the rich factory owners and their workers 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 on to 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.

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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 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 Bryant and May win. When she left she convinced 14 other match girls to go with her and strike. On July 5th, 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 gonna hire you. How? Plus who's gonna 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 May, 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 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 Magic Girls wanted to create a union

so conditions would like never get this bad again. And you know, the public did not like Brian and May. And after that, they really didn't have a choice. They kinda 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 gotta win.

Like 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 Mae,

they weren't gonna like backslide. So they agreed to these new terms and not long after negotiations, 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, 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 women would stop getting Fosie Jaw. But they didn't. In the years after the strike,

more than 16 women died from Fosie Jaw. And those are just the ones that we know of, okay? Because most Fosie Jaw cases were never recorded. Some people say it was around 11% of workers got Fosse 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 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 because of the workers or because it 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've 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 Fosse jaw like they were back then. But still today these large corporations are still taking advantage of everyone, 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 a tragedy strikes,

like that is the goal here in my mind, you know? And 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 if that I just feel like these stories just keep happening and it sucks. I don't know. I like how do I end this?

You know, it sucks. Fosse jaw. 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. It gives me great anxiety and you're just praying. I hope everything goes fine. It's expensive. Oh, 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 champagne and smoking cigarettes and saying, 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 going to 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. At Xochitletheprincess, I think that's your username, episode. Now let's read a couple of comments you guys have left me at XO Chit 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. NeneBelle74881 left a comment on our Dark History of Death episode, saying, "'I told my kids to cremate me

"'and bury me underneath a crabapple tree "'so I can be fruitful and multiply, still like the Bible says and still be crabby. LOL, my final joke, LOL. NeNe. NeNe. NeNe. NeNe.

I don't, I kinda like that. That's not a bad idea, honestly. I like that. Good for you. Make your demands. All right? I help you get, I hope that works Good for you. Make your demands. Alright? I hope you get... I hope that works out for you and they make that come true. Um, I still want to be put in a firework. I think that is just the best. Right? No, okay. Rin Clem left us an episode suggestion. Please do

a dark history on Marian Stokes. She recorded literally 35 years straight of news in the belief of access to knowledge. Oh, was it 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 start Googling around and 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. Bye! AHHHHH!