Louise Raw

Louise Raw puts the record straight by showing through research, reinterpretation of original records and reports and interviews with relatives of the striking match women. She debunks the received view of most historians that the strike was led by Annie Besant and other middle class socialists rather than the match women themselves. The point is strongly argued if somewhat repetitious. The book also gives a detailed description of the lives of working women in the East End in the 1880s and show more shows the supportive nature of the communities and the way that the matchworkers' strike was the inspiration for the subsequent strikes by the gas workers and dockers. show less