(film review)

Recently, the second film about the adventures of Enola Holmes — the sister of the world-famous detective Sherlock Holmes — has been released. The film turned out to be incredible, with a beautiful picture, charismatic characters and a plot based on Sarah Chapman’s search and the question of what she learned. However, not so many people know that Sarah Chapman is a real lady who really contributed to the protection of the rights of working women.

Sarah Chapman was born in a working-class family in London. Regardless of their origin, the parents took care of the education of their seven children, so they could all read and write. As a teenager, the girl already worked at a match factory together with her mother and sister and earned quite a good salary there.

However, over time, women workers began to notice that the working day was getting longer, and the pay and quality of working conditions were getting worse and worse. In addition to all this, the workers also had to work with toxic white phosphorus, which caused the disease later known as Fossey. Characteristic signs of this disease were the formation of painful abscesses in the mouth, which led to a disfigurement of the face, and sometimes even to death.

Despite the increasingly frequent outbreaks of this disease among workers, the management kept silent about cases of white phosphorus poisoning, attributing it all to typhus. It was not profitable for the owners to reveal the dirty secrets of production, because profits kept growing and growing. Sensing that the workers might go on strike, they forced them to sign waivers. And the male workers really did not go on strike, instead, the women and girls did.

The next day Sarah Chapman and several of her associates formed a strike committee. This helped to highlight the problem to a wide audience, which helped the workers to gain the support of the community. Thanks to the committee, even several deputies joined this action.

After such publicity, the owners of the firm had to cancel all fines, provide the workers with the necessary tools, create a canteen separate from the factory shop, and rehire all the women who left. White phosphorus was removed from the composition of matches. In addition, women created a union — the Union of Women Matchmakers. Sarah Chapman was elected as the first representative of the union at the Trade Union Congress.

This woman may have been born in a poor family and had supposed to remain in the shadows like other women all her life. However, she had enough courage and determination to shake the world and encourage workers to raise their voices for a decent salary, rights, and working conditions.