Booth's Match Factory
The Salvation was started in 1865 by William Booth and his wife, Catherine. It worked with the poor and needy and helped to make lives better by providing food, shelter and support.
In 1888, William Booth decided to investigate the way that matches were made, after some match-girls who worked at the Bryant and May factory complained about how they were treated.
'Phossy Jaw'
Booth's investigator found out that the yellow phosphorus which was used to make the heads of the matches was very dangerous and caused a terrible disease called 'phossy jaw' which could lead to death. The factory owners knew about this disease but they were worried about losing profits so they didn't do much about it.
There were other problems for the match-girls too:
They had to work very long hours with little or no breaks.
They were paid very little.
They were expected to use heavy machinery.
The factories had poor lighting.
Because people were so poor, some women had to work at home making match boxes. They worked for whole weekends but still got hardly any money for this.
Light in Darkest England
In 1891, The Salvation Army opened a clean, airy, well-lit factory which used safe red phosphorus. The girls who came to work there had tea breaks and were paid a fair wage - more than one third more than in the other factories.
Ten years later, all the other factory owners had been forced to improve their factories due to William Booth's hard work. Booth could close his factory, having achieved his aim.
Find out more about William Booth.