Who invented the match and when?

The first friction match was invented by John Walker, an English pharmacist, in 1827. Walker’s matches, known as “Congreves,” were made by coating a wooden stick with a mixture of chemicals, including sulfur, potassium chlorate, and starch. They were struck against a rough surface to ignite. While Walker’s invention was the first to be commercially available, it was later improved upon by other inventors, such as Samuel Jones, who created safety matches in the 1840s, which could only be ignited by striking them on a specially prepared surface. This innovation made matches safer for everyday use.