Photomechanical reproduction of 'Matchgirl Strikes' in front of Bryant and May's factory, showing strikers campaigning for better working conditions, c. 1900 Photograph of two Maori people making fire with a fire-plough, the woman holding the hearth, the man using the plough, Aotearoa (New Zealand)

Invented in Southeast Asia and the Pacific Islands, fire pistons or syringes work by the compression of air. When exactly this method originated is unclear, but it is also assumed to be prehistoric. Fire pistons consist of a hollow cylinder made of wood, bamboo, animal horns, antlers, or metal. Tinder is placed in the tube and a piston with an airtight seal is rapidly pushed into it. The air inside the cylinder is compressed and the pressure and temperature are increased until the tinder combusts. The same principle is used in a diesel engine to ignite fuel in a cylinder. Its inventor Rudolf Diesel got the idea for his design from observing the use of a Southeast Asian fire piston. Not all steels work: high carbon steels, tool steels and knife steels will work if tempered or case-hardened. The steel does not have to be in the classic "C" shape of most Viking steels, though this is a handy configuration that ensures a good grip and protects the fingers on the striking hand.

Scrabble Tools

The letter H can be useful to create some two-letter words but there are some longer, high scoring words too. Here are some examples.

William Stead, the editor of the Pall Mall Gazette, Henry Hyde Champion of the Labour Elector and Catharine Booth of the Salvation Army joined Besant in her campaign for better working conditions in the factory. So also did Hubert Llewellyn Smith, Sydney Oliver, Stewart Headlam, Hubert Bland, Graham Wallas and George Bernard Shaw. However, other newspapers such as The Times, blamed Besant and other socialist agitators for the dispute. The pity is that the matchgirls have not been suffered to take their own course but have been egged on to strike by irresponsible advisers. No effort has been spared by those pests of the modern industrialized world to bring this quarrel to a head. (5) Henry Snell, Men Movements and Myself (1936) Dear Lady they have been trying to get the poor girls to say that it is all lies that has been printed and trying to make us sign papers that it is all lies; dear Lady nobody knows what it is we have put up with and we will not sign them. We thank you very much for the kindness you have shown to us. My dear Lady we hope you will not get into any trouble on our behalf as what you have spoken is quite true. (3) Interview with Bartholomew Bryant in The Star newspaper (July, 1888) Louise Raw makes a great play on calling the matchgirls “matchwomen”, arguing that this gives them more gravitas and respect. However, as most of matchgirls were teenagers, and a good many were children, while only a few were over the age of 22, it seems more logical to use the traditional term ‘matchgirls’.The strike fund was real and was definitely organised by Annie Besant with WT Stead and Fabian help. However, it was not crucial to the strike’s success. As so few of the matchgirls (if any) were sole breadwinners, they could all have survived the three weeks of the strike with family help. [ 2] It may be worth making plain that denying Mrs Annie Besant the deciding role conventional history has given her does not make the Bryant and May strike ‘spontaneous’. However, while Louise Raw identifies the strike leaders, she has not traced (perhaps she could not) the full internal details of the strike. Both these groups were active in the East End, holding meetings, selling papers and agitating, along with the anti-Irish coercion movement, which had come to a head in a march to Trafalgar Square that became known as Bloody Sunday (13 November 1887). Multiple cardboard and chipboard safety matchboxes, with the "Brymay" trademark, made by Bryant and May, 1920-1960.

The light of a burning torch leading the way through the dark, a hearty meal stewing on a hearth, stories told around glowing embers and flying sparks – fire is one of the bases of human life. Used by almost every human on Earth, it has throughout time provided a source of warmth, the means to cook food, protection from predators, a way of making new tools and weapons, played a role in various religions, rituals, and ceremonies, and been a crucial component of energy production. Without fire, human evolution would not have been possible in the way we know it. While true touchwood does not grow in North America, apparently other shelf-fungi from birch trees will work as well. Experimentation with various tree fungi, using the preparation methods described for touchwood, should determine which fungi in your local area will work best. Fire-Making Kits Quite the contrary. From her first appearance on the public stage as a militant atheist, and all through her ‘socialist’ phase, Mrs Annie Besant was always fiercely opposed to strike action. In her Link article she called for a consumer boycott against Bryant and May. In another article, she even derided the very idea of a strike: If you like what you're reading online, why not take advantage of our subscription and get unlimited access to all of Times Higher Education's content? Our new online dictionaries for schools provide a safe and appropriate environment for children. And best of all it's ad free, so sign up now and start using at home or in the classroom.

But first, using hitherto neglected contemporary sources, she demolishes the great myth of Mrs Annie Besant leading the strike. True flint and steel fire starting is a low temperature method of spark-based fire starting. This means that the orange-colored sparks generated by steel on stone are cooler than the white hot sparks generated by modern, ferrocerium-based sparking tools often sold in sporting goods stores or by the Boy Scouts. To start a fire using the Viking Age flint and steel method, you need flint or a hard stone, steel and tinder. corrections and revisions to definitions, pronunciation, etymology, headwords, variant spellings, quotations, and dates; One of the oldest and most widespread methods of fire-making is by using tinder, flint, and steel. Even ‘Ötzi’, the natural mummy of a man who lived 5300 years ago in the Ötztal Alps in Austria, was found with flint, iron pyrites, and a collection of different plants for tinder.