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# The fire went out in the night and I have to ask the neighbors for some of theirs
- URL: https://www.thefrictionlog.com/00280/
- Published: 2026-09-23T22:53:46.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-12T15:06:36.000Z
- Description: Filed: before writing · Solved: 1827 in England · the friction match · by John Walker, chemist
- Author: The Clerk
- Tags: Solved, #solved 1827

*Third morning this week I've knocked on their door before sunup. They've stopped saying good morning.* — Cook, 1815

John Walker was a chemist in Stockton-on-Tees, England. He was stirring a paste one day, scraped the stick on his hearth, and it caught fire. In April 1827 he started selling them with a folded piece of sandpaper to strike on, and wrote the first sale in his ledger as Sulphurata Hyper-Oxygenata Frict. Never patented it. By 1829 a fellow in London was selling copies called Lucifers. Generous man. Could've at least named it something a person could say.

**Noted**: FEMA and the Red Cross still tell you to keep matches in your emergency kit. Some things you don't improve on.

### The full file

He had his chance. Michael Faraday himself told Walker to patent it. Walker said no, on purpose: "I doubt not it will be a benefit to the public, so let them have it."

Later matches were made with white phosphorus, and the factory workers, mostly women and children, got what they called phossy jaw. The jawbone died, and sometimes it had to come out.

In July 1888 about 1,400 women and girls walked out of the Bryant & May match factory in East London. Three weeks later they'd won. The fines were gone and the company recognized their union. Took a strike to get that much.

**Relates to** [No. 00340](https://www.thefrictionlog.com/00340/).