John Walker Home Page

This web site is dedicated to John Walker (1781 – 1859) of Stockton-upon-Tees, the inventor of the Friction Match in 1826. Use the Menu to read more about John Walker and his invention, and visit our Lighting up the World exhibition.

We are proud to have Republic Technologies (UK) as our patron.

We are proud that the Society secured a National Lottery Heritage Fund grant for £14,760 to fully fund the making of a documentary film about John Walker and the impact of his invention on the world. This project was made possible thanks to money raised by National Lottery players, which allowed us to engage with Lonely Tower Film and Media from Durham to make the film with us. Our film is now available here.

Stock photo images courtesy of Visualhunt, Flaticon, World Flags and Wikimedia Commons with attribution credits here.