{"id":7491,"date":"2026-04-26T06:24:29","date_gmt":"2026-04-26T06:24:29","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/?page_id=7491"},"modified":"2026-05-28T07:15:33","modified_gmt":"2026-05-28T07:15:33","slug":"on-line-exhibit-the-faraday-myth","status":"publish","type":"page","link":"https:\/\/phillumeny.com\/johnwalker\/on-line-exhibit-the-faraday-myth\/","title":{"rendered":"The Faraday Myth"},"content":{"rendered":"
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1859 obituary, Newcastle Chronicle<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Exhibitor : Alan Middleton<\/a><\/strong><\/p>\n

When John Walker died on the 1st<\/sup> May 1859 many national British newspapers carried \u2018glowing\u2019 obituaries usually mentioning an association between Walker and Michael Faraday<\/strong><\/a>, who was the pre-eminent scientist of the day.<\/p>\n

However, there is no evidence to show that Faraday ever met or corresponded with John Walker.<\/p>\n

Let’s look into how this myth arose.<\/p>\n

Press Coverage for John Walker’s 1826 invention<\/h2>\n

We know that John Walker’s first sale of his new matches was on 7th<\/sup> April 1827 and was recorded in his Day Book<\/strong><\/a> as sale #30. Scholars therefore surmise that his discovery must have happened some time before April 1827, and place the invention date as 1826.<\/p>\n

But it wasn’t until September 1829 that the newspapers wrote about Walker’s discovery. <\/p>\n

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The Globe newspaper, 30th September 1829<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The first ever public mention was on 30th<\/sup> September 1829 in The Globe newspaper, quoting from the soon to be published October edition of the prestigious Quarterly Journal of Science, Literature and Art under the title \u201cInstantaneous Light Apparatus\u201d. The entry read :<\/p>\n