{"id":1311,"date":"2025-09-30T13:48:56","date_gmt":"2025-09-30T13:48:56","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/?page_id=1311"},"modified":"2026-05-29T07:50:36","modified_gmt":"2026-05-29T07:50:36","slug":"on-line-exhibition-chapter-6","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/on-line-exhibition-chapter-6\/","title":{"rendered":"The Match : from danger to safety"},"content":{"rendered":"
\"\"<\/a>
Photo credit : Pascual S\u00e1nchez, CC BY 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Period covered : 1826 to 1861<\/strong><\/p>\n

What exactly is a \u201cmatch\u201d ? Encyclopaedias define a match as \u201ca tool for starting a fire\u201d. Typically, matches are usually a wooden stick, stiff card or wax stem with one or both ends coated in a chemical mixture that can be ignited by striking the match against a suitable surface.<\/p>\n

The word match derives from Old French m\u00e8che, referring to the wick of a candle. Today, most matches are either made of aspen wood obtained from sustainable forests, or card found in bookmatches.<\/p>\n

During the 19th<\/sup> century scientists and industrialists searched for ways to mass produce matches that were cheap to make,
\nreliable and safe to use. The journey led from dangerous, liquid-based matches to the stable wooden safety matches that we all know today.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Joan Rendell demonstrating a Tinder Box<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Matches before Walker<\/h2>\n

Many attempts to create a way of making fire instantaneously had been made before John Walker\u2019s invention : using a magnifying glass on tinder, striking a flint to make sparks to ignite tinder (Tinder Box), tinder pistols, electropneumatic lamps, specialist lighters like D\u00f6bereiner’s lamp<\/strong><\/a>, and various chemical matches.<\/p>\n

In France in 1805 Jean Chancel invented a self-igniting match which required the wood splint (which was coated in chemicals) to be dipped in sulphuric acid, but these matches were costly to produce and very dangerous to use.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Chemical composition of Walker’s matches<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

John Walker’s matches – the breakthrough<\/h2>\n

In 1826 John Walker invents the Friction Match using splints tipped with antimony sulphide and potassium chlorate, which were ignited by pulling them through glass paper, and the promise of a simple, safe and affordable way for everyone to make fire was born : freedom from the “terrible tyranny of the Tinder Box” would soon be possible.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
Promethean Matches, Tom O’Key collection<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Charles Darwin and matches<\/h2>\n

Samuel Jones had patented the \u201cPromethean Match\u201d in 1828 using vials of sulphuric acid. \u201cVesuvians\u201d similarly had a bulb of sulphuric acid on the end of a splint.  <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
HMS Beagle in the Straits of Magellan, R. T. Pritchett, Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

It is interesting to read in Charles Darwin<\/strong><\/a>\u2019s 1839 book Voyages of The Beagle how his crew had to bite a match to break the vesicle to light it \u2013 proof that they took some Promethean matches with them on their expedition.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/h2>\n

The role of Phosphorus in the development of the match industry<\/strong><\/h2>\n

We cannot talk about the history of the match without talking about phosphorus<\/strong><\/a>. Although John Walker\u2019s matches did not contain any phosphorus it became a fundamental component of the match striking process, and the mass manufacture of stable, safe and affordable matches could not have happened without it.<\/p>\n

Phosphorus is a chemical element with the symbol P and the atomic number 15. Elemental phosphorus exists in two major forms, white phosphorus<\/strong> (also known as yellow phosphorus) and red phosphorus<\/strong>, but because it is highly reactive, phosphorus is never found as a free element on Earth.<\/p>\n

Phosphorus is essential to all living things. It forms the sugar-phosphate backbone of DNA and RNA. It is important for energy transfer in cells as part of Adenosine Triphosphate (ATP) and is found in many other biologically important molecules.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>
The Alchemist chemist in Search of the Philosophers Stone (1771), by Joseph Wright, depicting Hennig Brand discovering phosphorus. Public domain, via Wikimedia Commons<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

 <\/p>\n

In 1669 Hennig Brand<\/strong><\/a> from Hamburg was the first person to isolate phosphorus, which he made by boiling up large quantities of urine. Brand thought he had found the secret of turning silver into gold (Alchemy) but of course he was mistaken.<\/p>\n

Brand noticed that the waxy residue in his retorts would ignite with the slightest warmth. His discovery caused great interest in the scientific community, but because of the difficulty and cost of producing it and its flammability the element was not exploited until the discovery of being able to make fire by rubbing chemical compounds together, the Friction Match, created an industrial demand for phosphorus.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

White for danger, Red for safety<\/strong><\/h2>\n

In 1832 Charles Sauria<\/strong><\/a> in France developed matches which used white phosphorus, and this chemical formed the basis of most match manufacture right up until the start of the 20th<\/sup> century. However, white phosphorus is extremely toxic and can cause serious health problems, such as \u201cphossy jaw<\/strong><\/a>\u201d which affected many workers in the match industry. <\/p>\n

The early matches could ignite if they accidentally rubbed together, and there are many reports of people whose clothes caught fire when a box of matches ‘spontaneously’ ignited in their pocket. <\/p>\n

In 1844 Gustaf Pasch<\/strong><\/a><\/b> patented a Safety Match in Sweden which used red phosphorous not white. The match would only ignite on a special striking surface coated with red phosphorus, and had no phosphorous on the match head. Another key person in the development of Safety Matches was Anton Schr\u00f6tter<\/strong><\/a>.<\/p>\n

These days we are all familiar with \u201cSafety Matches<\/strong>\u201d, but what does that actually mean ? <\/p>\n