> Folk Music > Songs > England’s Glory

England’s Glory

[ Roud - ; John Prosser]

“England’s Glory” is a brand of non-safety matches, available in the United Kingdom. They were originally made in the still-standing lsquo;Moreland’s Match Manufactory in Bristol Road, Gloucester by S.J. Moreland and Sons, who became a subsidiary of Bryant and May in 1913, although full ownership by Bryant and May only came in 1938.

John Prosser sang his song England’s Glory about the working conditions in the match factories and the 1888 matchgirls’ strike on his and Paul Vile’s 2018 album The Girl Always Wins.

Bob and Gill Berry sang England’s Glory in 2006 on their WildGoose album BitterSweet. They noted:

In June 1888, Clementina Black gave a speech on Female labour at a Fabian Society meeting in London. Annie Besant, a member of the audience, was so horrified about the pay and appalling conditions that women endured at the Bryant & May Match Factory, that the next day she wrote an article in her newspaper “The Link” entitled “White Slavery in London”. This caused the Company to react by forcing their workers to sign a statement saying they were happy with their working conditions. When a group of women refused to sign they were sacked which resulted in the immediate strike of 1400 women in July of that year. This is a story of hope; and shows the power of publicity even in a small, obscure publication. John Prosser of the “String Fellows” wrote this great song, which ranks one of our all time favourites.

This video shows Bob and Gill Berry at Bath Folk Festival, probably in 2012:

Lyrics

John Prosser sings England’s Glory

Mist on the Thames and the young girls are rising,
Christians awake, the Lord gives your day.
Down on the street see the daughters of Empire,
Tramping through Hackney the factory way.

Phosphorus burns in the cold light of morning,
Lingering still in the air the girls breathe.
Matches for men to fire England’s glory,
Sisters and daughters, there is no relief.

Chorus (after every other verse):
This is the age of smoke and of fire,
This is the age of freeman and slave.
Smokestack and mill rising higher and higher,
This is the age that Victoria gave.

Soon all will learn of the death and the danger,
They will be told of the price we must pay.
Carry the news to the friend and the stranger,
Matches make fortunes at Bryant and May.

Three of us gone for telling our story,
Sackings and fines are the price we must pay.
Losing the battle but winning the war,
We are fighting for justice the factory way.

Fighting is hard for the rights of a woman,
Powerless females, no franchise to gain.
But sisters and daughters who kneel before no man,
The strength of the Union was born from your pain.

Alice and Kate, Jane, Eliza and Mary,
Sleeping alone in the graves where you lie.
Yours is the victory, you’re England’s glory,
Matches may fade but the flame will not die.