Comments on: The Match Girls At The Hanbury Hall https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/ In the midst of life I woke to find myself living in an old house beside Brick Lane in the East End of London Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:53:54 +0000 hourly 1 https://wordpress.org/?v=7.0 By: NF https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1503420 Mon, 06 Mar 2023 00:53:54 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1503420 Fascinating life story. But I can’t work out how Sarah Chapman ended up in a pauper’s grave. She wasn’t poor, and three of her children were alive and could have seen to it that she was given a proper burial.

]]> By: Brian Harrison https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1502059 Mon, 20 Feb 2023 13:37:11 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1502059 A remarkable story with many details I was unaware of. It might have been unusual 60 years ago but Annie Besant and the match girls strike was a key part of the history A level course I took, but I’d thought that Annie was a match girl too. Thank you so much for introducing me to Sarah Chapman and her crucial contribution to the cause.

One thing I would disagree with is the assertion that it was unusual for working class families to stay at the same address for long periods time. The key is that you mention that Sarah’s family was educated and that is an important signifier of the differences between the “rough” and the “respectable” working people – it was the respectable who would put down roots, and probably be church-goers, be advocates of temperence, go to photographers, send the kids to Sunday school, and use public libraries. (My family in Liverpool at that time was like that too!). All those swathes of terraced houses we associate working class communities were built in the 1880s so at that time there was plenty of good, relatively inexpensive new housing to be had, and a reason to stay put once you had secured one. It would also insulate you to a degree from the “rougher” elements of the community where there was more squalour, drunkenness, rowdy behaviour and the slums of Dickens’ era where the “moonlit flits” to avoid unpaid rent would be more frequent.

This is a great read, Thanks again Samantha.

]]> By: Andy https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1501989 Sun, 19 Feb 2023 17:05:53 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1501989 With great respect and we are coming back to strikes in the worst government this England has had.

Will we have anything left?

]]> By: Timothy https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1501852 Fri, 17 Feb 2023 12:38:26 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1501852 Fantastic. Really eye opening stuff about working people.
A moving story. Thanks.

]]> By: Milo https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1501842 Fri, 17 Feb 2023 09:29:29 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1501842 Leaving aside the obvious seriousness and gravity of the situations all those workers in such appalling conditions had to suffer i can’t help but fix a wry smile to my face when i read how these match girls went on ‘strike.’ Is that where the expression came from?

]]> By: achim https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1501841 Fri, 17 Feb 2023 09:28:00 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1501841 An impressive, awesome story of a working struggle par excellence!

Love & Peace
ACHIM

]]> By: Susan https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1501835 Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:13:23 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1501835 Thank you so much, gentle author, for sharing Samantha Johnson’s information with us. I am always awestruck by those brave working class individuals who fought the economic system at a time when doing so might not only leave you without employment or in jail, but might even get you killed. (I am thinking, for example, of the Haymarket Affair, a violent confrontation between police and labour protesters in Chicago on May 4, 1886, that became a symbol of the international struggle for workers’ rights. Many people died in their effort to ensure that people had the right to an 8-hour workday.)

]]> By: Christine Swan https://spitalfieldslife.com/2023/02/17/the-match-girls-at-the-hanbury-hall/#comment-1501834 Fri, 17 Feb 2023 07:02:42 +0000 https://spitalfieldslife.com/?p=194732#comment-1501834 People are fascinating. Especially those who stood up against injustice. Even now, we benefit from their brave actions. How wonderful to discover that your great grandmother was one of those people! I would encourage anyone who has not discovered their family tree to take advantage of free trials, local archives and parish records. It is an engaging past time for the winter months and uncovers hidden social history which would otherwise be lost. Thank you Samantha and the GA.

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