This is the story of one of the best known strikes in labour history, revealing the real significance and truth about what happened for the first time. In July 1888, 1400 women and girls employed by the matchmakers Bryant and May walked out of their East End factory and into the history books. In this very well written and engaging book Louise Raw provides a new interpretation of events which is more vibrant than the orthodox version and shows that the women themselves, not celebrity Socialists like Annie Besant, began it. She provides unequivocal evidence to show that the matchwomen greatly influenced the Dock Strike of 1889, which until now was thought to be the key event of new unionism. She sees the matchgirls as the mothers of the modern labour movement. This is the story of one of the best known strikes in labour history; an event whose real significance and truth about what happened has been hidden until now.