Historedia
Episode 2 of 2

First Recorded Sale

When
7 April 1827
Where
Stockton-on-Tees
Part of
John Walker begins selling the Lucifer friction match

The first documented sale of Walker's friction matches occurred on 7 April 1827, recorded in his sales book as 'sulphurata hyperoxygenata frict.'

Although experiments may have occurred in 1826, the first extant record is a note on a sale upon credit dated 7 April 1827. This entry suggests the invention might have happened the previous year, as it mentions 'No. 30,' possibly indicating a batch number.

Sources

  1. John Walker (inventor) Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-30
  2. Stockton-on-Tees Wikipedia, revision of 2026-10-03
  3. Match Wikipedia, revision of 2026-09-29

Machine-drafted from the cited Wikipedia passages and checked by a reviewing model, not by a human editor. Every passage cites the revision it was written from; dates and places follow those passages.