Chronology of the global match industry
This is a chronological list of the key events in the history of the Global Match Industry, using information kindly provided by Richard Tolson and Roger Fennings.
| 19th Century | |
| Year | Event |
|---|---|
| 1805 | Jean Chancel invents a self-igniting match which required the splint (which was coated in chemicals) to be dipped in sulphuric acid |
| 1805 | German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner develops the first “fire rod,” which ignites hydrogen gas using platinum |
| 1826 | Invention of the first practical friction match, by John Walker, chemist of Stockton-on-Tees |
| 1827 | John Walker’s Friction Lights go on sale – the world’s first |
| 1832 | Charles Sauria develops matches with white phosphorus |
| 1832 | Coulettes Fabre & Cie begin match production in Marseilles, France |
| 1833 | Match production starts in Italy at the Albani factory |
| 1835 | Balthazar Mertens starts making matches in Belgium |
| 1836 | In the USA Alonzo Philips produces his ‘first improved friction matches’ |
| 1836 | First Swedish match factory established by J S Bagge |
| 1836 | Don Pedro González starts making and selling matches from his factory in Barcelona, Spain |
| 1837 | First Russian match factory starts near St Petersburg |
| 1839 | Vojtěch Scheinost opens the first Austrian match factory in Sušice |
| 1839 | Jakob Friedrich Kammerer, establishes the first factory for “phosphorus matches” in Switzerland in Zurich |
| 1841 | V. Molenkoff opens the first match factory in Finland in Kuopio |
| 1843 | Britain’s Bryant & May established, as general merchants |
| 1844 | Swedish chemist Gustaf Erik Pasch develops the “safety match”, removing the phosphorous from the match head and placing it on a specially prepared striking surface. Also, he uses harmless amorphous red phosphorous not white |
| 1846 | Match manufacture begins in Norway |
| 1847 | Brothers Johan Edvard and Carl Frans Lundström founded a large-scale factory in Jönköping |
| 1851 | Great Exhibition in Hyde Park, London with eleven match manufacturers exhibiting |
| 1855 | Swedish manufacturer Johan Edvard Lundström perfects the Safety Match and creates a new type of matchbox, a sleeve around a retractable inner tray, revolutionising the way matchboxes are made. The new product wins a diploma and a medal at the World Exhibition in Paris |
| 1855 | Bryant & May pay Lundström £100 for the UK rights to make Safety Matches |
| 1855 | Roche & Cie begin production in France |
| 1855 | Bryant & May Ltd, London establish their first trading connections with Australia |
| 1858 | The Jönköping factory is producing 12 million boxes a year |
| 1861 | Bryant & May open the Fairfield Works factory in Bow, London and begin manufacturing their own matches |
| 1862 | First automatic match making machine is designed by Alexander Lagerman |
| 1862 | US Congress introduces a Match Tax as part of Revenue Act |
| 1863 | Report on Children’s Employment in UK Lucifer Manufacture |
| 1867 | Causemille Jeune & Cie begin production in France |
| 1870 | Mennen & Keunen established a match factory in Eindhoven, Holland |
| 1871 | British Chancellor of the Exchequer Robert Lowe proposes a match tax, which is rapidly withdrawn after a public outcry |
| 1872 | Finland is the first country in the world to ban the use of White Phosphorous in match production |
| 1872 | France establishes a state monopoly for the production of matches |
| 1875 | Makoto Shimizu founds a full-scale match factory in Tokyo called “Shinsuisha” |
| 1876 | Captain Matthew Webb becomes the first person to swim the English Channel, inspiring the eponymous match brand |
| 1877 | Lavigne & Cia. start making safety matches in Argentina |
| 1879 | First Chinese match factory, Qiao Ming (How Ming) (巧明), is established in Guangdong (Canton) by Wei Youxuan (卫有轩) |
| 1880 | Diamond Match Co. is founded in the USA |
| 1880 | António Maria Mattos opens a match factory in Porto, Portugal |
| 1884 | Match production starts in South Africa |
| 1888 | Matchgirls Strike at Bryant & May’s Fairfield Works in Bow |
| 1889 | Compañía General de Fósforos (CGF) formed in Argentina with the merger of three match factories |
| 1891 | The Salvation Army open a match factory at Old Ford, near Bow |
| 1892 | Joshua Pusey patents the bookmatch in the USA |
| 1892 | Spanish Government nationalises the match industry, creating a national monopoly |
| 1894 | In Brazil the Fiat Lux company starts production |
| 1895 | Portuguese Government nationalises the match industry, creating a national monopoly |
| 1895 | R. Bell & Company builds a match factory in Swan Street, Burnley an inner suburb of Melbourne, Australia |
| 1895 | Gujarat (Gujrat) Islam Match Manufacturing Co. opens in Ahmedabad, India |
| 1899 | White Phosphorus report |
| 1900 onwards | |
| 1900 | Bryant & May acquire Sevene & Cahen’s patent rights for ‘safe phosphorus’ |
| 1903 | Jönköping Vulcan formed, and grants Bryant & May a seven year agency for their Swedish matches |
| 1903 | Jönköping Vulcan export 90% of the company’s production across the world |
| 1903 | Austrian independent companies merge to form Solo A G |
| 1905 | Foundation of the Philippine Match Co. |
| 1905 | British Match Makers Association formed (by 7 principal manufacturers) |
| 1906 | Berne Convention on the abolition of use of White Phosphorus |
| 1909 | Bryant & May, Bell & Company Pty Ltd forms and opens their new Empire Works in Church Street, Richmond, Victoria, Australia |
| 1910 | White Phosphorus (Matches) Prohibition Act comes into force in UK, banning manufacture and import |
| 1912 | Union Allumettière (Union Match) founded in Belgium |
| 1913 | B&M acquire controlling interest in S J Moreland & Sons Ltd, Gloucester |
| 1915 | Cia. Chilena de Fósforos, is founded in Chile |
| 1916 | Taxation on matches introduced in UK. Official price was 3 boxes for 2d. Foreign imports to UK banned |
| 1917 | Merger of major Swedish Match companies to form Svenska Tändsticks AB, Swedish Match |
| 1924 | Opening of Nur match factory in Acre, Palestine |
| 1928 | First organised society of matchbox label collectors founded in Osaka Ringi Koyukai, Japan |
| 1930 | First Egyptian match factory established |
| 1932 | Suicide of Ivar Kreuger, the Swedish ‘Match King’ |
| 1933 | North of England Match Co Ltd (NEMCO) established in West Hartlepool, County Durham |
| 1935 | Heroical’ and ‘Help’ brands are issued in Russia to celebrate the rescue of the Chelyushkin Polar exploration ship |
| 1935 | Establishment of SEITA, the French match monopoly |
| 1935 | Jaime Sweilbelmann and Oscar Campos open the first match factory in Costa Rica |
| 1939 | Great China Match Co, starts production in Hong Kong |
| 1941 | Bryant & May’s factory in Liverpool is destroyed by German bombing |
| 1945 | British Matchbox Label and Booklet Society formed |
| 1947 | Independence of India sees issue of many celebratory labels in that country |
| 1948 | Jönköping match factory issues ‘Jubileums’ label to celebrate 100 years of production at their Lake Vättern factory |
| 1956 | The Spanish Government places the match industry back into private ownership, Fosforera Española and Fosforera Canariense are formed |
| 1959 | The Swan on the vesta box changes direction and swims from left to right. It still does |
| 1971 | Wooden match production at Bow ceases |
| 1973 | Bryant & May merge with Wilkinson Sword to create Wilkinson Match |
| 1979 | Wilkinson Match close their London factory |
| 1980 | Wilkinson Match sells to Allegheny International |
| 1981 | New owners close former Bryant & May Glasgow factory |
| 1987 | Swedish Match acquire the match manufacturing interests of Allegheny International |
| 1991 | Swedish Match present a new, environmentally friendly safety match, containing no sulphur or environmentally harmful materials |
| 1994 | Match production in Britain ceases with the closure of the Bryant & May factory in Liverpool |
| 1996 | Bryant & May cease trading. Operations continue as Swedish Match |
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