Enola Holmes investigates death of matchbox factory girls

In her first case (in the movies), Enola Holmes solves the case – the dying matchbox factory girls. She works alongside Sarah Chapman to uncover the truth: phosphorus from the matches are causing the workers to become ill and die.

In this scene, we see the workers striking after learning about the phosphorus poisoning:

Enola Holmes and Sarah Chapman won the battle for truth.#enolaholmes2 #losangeles #shorts

As it turns out, the events are based on a real story – the 1888 Bryant & May strike.

And this paper looks into the medical reasons behind the workers' poisoning.

The researcher analyses historical reports and compares them with known chemistry, and concludes that the workers suffered from "phossy jaw".

From the credo summary:

the epidemic lasted from about 1858 to 1906, caused painful exposed jawbone, and had reported mortality of 20%. Workers handling match materials as mixers, dippers, and boxers were affected in relation to exposure duration ... yellow phosphorus could react with water, carbon dioxide, and amino acids such as lysine (a protein building block) in the body, producing amino bisphosphonates (bone-affecting chemicals) resembling alendronate and pamidronate. The article says this explains the similarity to modern bisphosphonate-associated osteonecrosis (death of bone tissue).

In real life, there was no Enola Holmes – but there was Sarah Chapman and other workers who stood up for their rights.