John Walker . The Local Chemist who invented the modern day Safety (friction) Match
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Walker was born in Stockton-on-Tees in 1781. He went to the local grammar school and was afterwards apprenticed to Watson Alcock, the principal surgeon of the town serving him as an assistant. He had, however, an aversion to surgical operations, and had to leave the profession, turning instead to chemistry. After studying at Durham and York, he set up a small business as a chemist and druggist at 59 High Street, Stockton, around 1818. He developed a keen interest in trying to find a means of obtaining fire easily. Several chemical mixtures were already known which would ignite by a sudden explosion, but it had not been found possible to transmit the flame to a slow-burning substance like wood. |
John Walker
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While Walker was preparing a lighting mixture on one occasion, a match which had been dipped in it took fire by an accidental friction upon the hearth. He at once appreciated the practical value of the discovery, and started making friction matches. They consisted of wooden splints or sticks of cardboard coated with sulphur and tipped with a mixture of sulphide of antimony, chlorate of potash, and gum, the sulphur serving to communicate the flame to the wood. The price of a box of 50 matches was one shilling. With each box was supplied a piece of sandpaper, folded double, through which the match had to be drawn to ignite it. He named the matches "Congreves" in honour of the inventor and rocket pioneer, Sir William Congreve. He did not divulge the exact composition of his matches.
His first sale of the matches was on April 7, 1827, to a Mr. Hixon, a solicitor in the town. Two and a half years after Walker's invention was made public, Isaac Holden arrived, independently, at the same idea of coating wooden splinters with sulphur. The exact date of his discovery, according to his own statement, was October 1829. Previously to this date, Walker's sales-book contains an account of no fewer than 250 sales of friction matches, the first entry bearing the date 7 April 1827. Already comfortably well off, he refused to patent his invention, despite being encouraged to by Michael Faraday and others, making it freely available for anyone to make. He was advised to patent his matches sadly, his design was not perfect, and because of that he never wanted to patent it. and as a result, Samuel Jones of London copied his idea and launched his own "Lucifers" in 1829, an exact copy of Walkers "Friction Lights". He received neither fame nor wealth for his invention, although he was able to retire some years later. The credit for his invention was attributed only after his death. John Walker was buried on May 1st 1859 at St. Mary the Virgin Church Parish Yard, Norton, England. He was credited with the invention of matches only after his death. John Walkers mother and father :
John Walker senior was a grocer, a burgess of the town and proprietor of premises at 104 High-street. In 1776 he was married at St. Thomas' church Stockton, to Mary Peacock, daughter of the Reverend Thomas Peacock and Jane his wife. John and Mary Walker lived above and behind the shop at 104 High Street where their first son, James was born in 1777, and then a second son whom they called John - but he died when he was only 11 months old. Their third son was born on May 29th, 1781 and they also called him John. They were to have three other children, Thomas Peacock Walker (named after his grandfather) and two girls, Jane and Mary. |
A Congreve matchbox
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