Striking images
Brymay Ark
Registered in 1872, this enduring trademark is thought to be inspired by the pub next to William Bryant’s Wesleyan chapel
Captain Webb
Produced in 1876 by the Diamond Match Company to celebrate the moustachioed Victorian’s record-breaking swim, the brand outlived the Captain by many decades
Swan Vestas
The ‘smoker’s match’ first appeared in 1883 and quickly became the UK’S bestseller. In 1959, the swan changed direction and started to swim from left to right
Morelands England’s Glory
Isued in 1891, these matches featured the Victorian battleship HMS Devastation on the front and bad jokes on the reverse. They’re still called England’s Glory, despite being made in Sweden
‘A tap at the pane, the quick sharp scratch and blue spurt of a lighted match
Robert Browning
phorus caused a severe necrosis and bone disorder, which became known as ‘phossy jaw’.
However, in 1855, a breakthrough came with the arrival, from Sweden, of the first non-toxic red phosphorous-based safety matches, which were lit on a specially designed striking surface, and, in 1862, two Quakers named William Bryant and Francis May built their own match factory in Bow, east London. Originally, the firm concentrated on the new safety matches, but it wasn’t long before it bowed to commercial pressure and also started to manufacture the popular ‘strike anywhere’ matches that incorporated the poisonous white phosphorous.
The plight of the Bryant & May match girls first hit the headlines in 1888, when journalist Annie Besant revealed the factory’s poor working conditions in her weekly paper. After one of the girls was dismissed, 1,400 workers went on strike and successfully gained an increase in pay and improved conditions in a landmark industrial dispute—although it took another 10 years for the use of white phosphorus finally to be prohibited.
By the late 19th century, the simple matchbox was available worldwide and the years leading up to the First World War were a golden age of matchmaking, due to heavy domestic demand and the increase in smoking. Competition between the big brands was intense and the labels produced during this period hold up a fascinating mirror to the social landscape of today.
Match advertising was commonplace and, between 1914 and 1917, Bryant & May even included a free accident life-insurance policy with every box. During the conflict, special matches were produced in damp-proof boxes for soldiers on the Western Front, along with Wind Vestas for use in cars and on boats.
After the Second World War, however, the match industry went into a slow decline. In an effort to boost sales, the matchmakers produced colourful sets of labels to attract collectors, but the arrival of disposable lighters and the proliferation of advertising matchbooks were making too great a hole in profits.
The last Bryant & May factory closed in 1994 and Octavius Hunt, the final remaining UK maker of matches, famous for its outdoor matches, ceased production in 2015. Swedish Match—the world’s largest match company— now owns all of the UK’S notable brands.
However, there has been a recent renaissance in the luxury end of the match market, fuelled by the popularity of log burners and scented candles. William Allardice of Archivist (www.archivistgallery.com), a keen phillumenist, and his wife, Sarah, started selling extra-long matches in 2011, in beautifully decorated boxes inspired by designs of the past. ‘We’ve turned something ordinary into something beautiful,’ enthuses Mr Allardice. ‘The humble match is back on the mantelpiece where it belongs.’