SARAH Dearman, née CHAPMAN – Matchgirls 1888 Strike Committee, Matchmakers' Union and TUC Delegate

Born: 31st October 1862 – Died: 27th November 1945 – Buried: 3rd December 1945

Sarah Chapman was a leading member of the 1888 Matchgirls Strike Committee, and is pictured above with the newly formed Matchmakers' Union. Sarah (ringed) is standing to the right of Herbert Burrows and Annie Besant, the Socialist Reformers. Sarah was the President of the Union and went on to become one of the first working-class women to represent their Union at the TUC.

Sadly, despite the great contribution Sarah made to the beginnings of the modern trade union movement and to working women’s rights, Sarah’s final resting place is a ‘pauper’s grave’ in Manor Park Cemetery. The grave, nothing more than a grassy footpath with no marking, let alone a headstone, was rediscovered by her Great Granddaughter in early 2017.

With burial space running out in London, cemeteries are looking at ways to reclaim land and at Manor Park they do this by ‘mounding over’ so that they can re-use the space.

THE AREA ADJACENT TO SARAH WAS MOUNDED IN 2019 AND, DESPITE BEING TOLD BY THE CEMETERY THAT THE AREA WHERE SARAH IS BURIED, WOULD NOT BE MOUNDED FOR AT LEAST 5 TO 10 YEARS, THEY HAVE NOW MOUNDED THE AREA.

THE PERMANENT HEADSTONE IS COMPLETE AND WAITING TO BE ERECTED FOR SARAH BUT IT IS NOT POSSIBLE UNTIL THE EARTH HAS COMPACTED AND SETTLED, POSSIBLE NOT FOR 3 TO 5 YEARS. 

With your support we hope to place Sarah's headstone on the site of her grave. 

WE, THE UNDERSIGNED, CALL ON MANOR PARK CEMETERY TO SAVE SARAH CHAPMAN'S GRAVE FOR POSTERITY: