Warning: This article contains spoilers for Enola Holmes 2. Read at your own risk!
When historical events happen, they set in stone something pivotal which will forever change the course of the lives of those affected by it. In Enola Holmes 2, it has a real occurrence where the main plot of the series revolved around on, the Matchgirls' Strike. What is it?
What Is The Matchgirls' Strike in Enola Holmes 2?
The very reason why Enola didn't give up on being a detective is because a girl approached her to look for her missing sister in Enola Holmes 2. See, Enola is already down but she agreed to the case when Bessie asked her because her heart is just like that.
Bessie and her sister are both workers at the Lyons Match Factory and it has been a week since Sarah, Bessie's sister, was missing. Upon thorough investigation, Enola found the reason why Sarah disappeared -- Sarah found out that the phosphorus on matches lead to the death of the girls.
In the end, they managed to convince all the other girls who are working at the match factory to stop working and march with them to the city center to push the government to make better health laws for women.
The Matchgirls' Strike of 1888 was a real historical event which is an industrial action by women, for women which is anchored on the introduction of tax on matches and the matchmakers opposed to it.
Led by Sarah Chapman, similar to that in the movie played by Hannah Dodds, 10,000 matchmakers came marching to the Houses of the Parliament to petition, most of them are women aged twenty to thirty.
Incorporating the idea of a historical event to the books and into the sequel changes the turf. With female autonomy being one of the main themes of Enola Holmes 2, it empowers fiction with facts, thus, being a moving force that could definitely contribute to the movement.
READ MORE: Who is the Real Villain in Enola Holmes 2?
Enola Holmes 2 director Harry Bradbeer shared in an interview with Deadline the reason why they included the Matchgirls' Strike of 1888 in the narrative.
Bradbeer revealed, "When we hit on the historical period, the idea of the matchgirls’ strike seemed to be a perfect way of telling a story about sisterhood and union and having the courage to stand up."
"We developed the script together, and as we talked about the story, we wanted to find a way that brought Enola into contact with a whole new world and a whole new range of young women and girls," Bradbeer added.
Enola Holmes 2 is now available to stream on Netflix.
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