>Could anyone tell me the folowing: When did matches become available to the
>working man (ie miners) and how did a miner re-light his candles before
>matches were available? Jean Tyler, Threlkeld Mining Museum.
>
Jean,
Matches, in the form we know today, were available from 1827 (Derry and
Williams, A Short History of Technology, (London, 1960), p. 552) but
availability is not the same as accessibility. Modern matches were probably
too expensive for the ordinary miner until much later in the 19th c. and he
would have relied on a tinder box as before.
Peter
______________________________________________
Peter Claughton, Blaenpant Morfil, Rosebush, Clynderwen,
Pembrokeshire, Wales SA66 7RE.
Tel. 01437 532578; Fax. 01437 532921; Mobile 07831 427599
University of Exeter - School of Historical, Political and Sociological Studies
(Centre for South Western Historical Studies)
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Co-owner - mining-history e-mail discussion list.
See http://www.jiscmail.ac.uk/files/mining-history/ for details.
Mining History Pages - http://www.exeter.ac.uk/~pfclaugh/mhinf/
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