Striking a Light: The Bryant and May Matchwomen and Their Place in History

In July 1888, fourteen hundred women and girls employed by the matchmakers Bryant and May walked out of their East End factory and into the history books. Louise Raw gives us a challenging new interpretation of events proving that the women themselves, not celebrity socialists like Annie Besant, began it. She provides unequivocal evidence to show that the matchwomen greatly influenced the Dock Strike of 1889, which until now was thought to be the key event of new unionism, and repositions them as the mothers of the modern labour movement. Returning to the stories of the women themselves, and by interviewing their relatives today, Raw is able to construct a new history which challenges existing accounts of the strike itself and radically alters the accepted history of the labour movement in Britain.

Author: Louise Raw, Sheila Rowbotham
Publisher: Bloomsbury Publishing PLC
Published: 05/12/2011
Pages: 304
Binding Type: Paperback
Weight: 1.10lbs
Size: 9.10h x 6.10w x 1.00d
ISBN13: 9781441114266
ISBN10: 1441114262
BISAC Categories:
- Political Science | Labor & Industrial Relations
- History | Europe | Great Britain | General
- History | Social History

About the Author
Louise Raw is a Labour historian with a background in the Trade Union movement and political campaigning. She has spoken throughout the world and in the media about her research into the matchwomen's strike, and writes a monthly column for The Morning Star.She has appeared on television and radio as well as delivering many talks in the local and Union communities.