Striking a sharp-edged flint or hard stone, such as quartzite, chert, or chalcedony, against a fire striker of mineral or fire-steel, causes hot, oxidising metal particles to split off the fire striker and ignite tinder.

So much for industrial action. Instead, Annie Besant sought to shame the shareholders. How could they accept such large dividends when the matchgirls worked twelve-hour days? Very easily, as it happened. 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. Rather than Mrs Annie Besant leading the matchgirls’ strike, she tried to quash it with a consumers’ boycott, but once it took place and proved successful, she was happy to represent the matchgirls at the 1889 TUC conference.

The first ingredient for Viking Age fire-making is the steel. Steel fire-strikers are called fire-steels or strike-a-lights. Fire-steels are a very common type of personal equipment throughout the Viking Age, appearing occasionally in female graves, but most commonly accompanying male burials (Koch). The fire-steel was a piece of personal equipment, which could be carried hanging from a belt or in a pouch with other fire-making equipment (Roesdahl, From Viking to Crusader, Catalog #61, p. 244). Yes. The study by Louise Raw: Striking a Light is a great historical work that gets to the story of the women who organised on and off the job, before Besant became a sort of figurehead. A good read To use this method, experienced percussion fire-makers make a small "nest" of tinder, which can be a variety of easily-flammable materials, such as flax tow, shredded hemp rope, dry grass, shredded fibrous tree-bark (very often juniper bark for the Vikings), etc. This "nest" should be about the size of a hen's egg, and should be both dry and near to hand. The actual fire should be laid with small kindling, ready to have the burning tinder "nest" inserted into it.

Percussion fire-starting is the method that seems most commonly to have been in use in the Viking Age: it certainly is the only one that leaves good traces in the archaeological record. This method utilizes a piece of high-carbon steel and flint (or other hard stone that experiences conchoidal fracturing to produce sharp edges, including quartz, quartzite, chert) plus a flammable substance that will ignite with a low-temperature spark and hold the ember well. Although not quite a ‘lady’ in the Victorian sense of the word, she was a high-profile figure when she interviewed some of the matchwomen of Bryant and May for an influential article she wrote called ‘White Slavery’ describing their appalling working conditions.But first, using hitherto neglected contemporary sources, she demolishes the great myth of Mrs Annie Besant leading the strike. Döbereiner Lamps were some of the first ever lighters to be invented. Developed by German chemist Johann Wolfgang Döbereiner (1780 – 1849) in 1823 This week we are looking at two words which may be confused by learners of English: scarce and scarcely. Improve your English with Collins. 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). As a not-for-profit media organisation using constructive journalism to strengthen communities, we have not put our digital content behind a paywall or subscription fee as we think the benefits of an independent, local publication should be available to everyone living in our area.