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- Bengal Matches
These were in all the newsagents around Bonfire Night during the 1960/70s in The Blck Country where I grew up. Available in green or red, about 10 in a box. They burnt for 3-4 seconds and were struck on the box striker which was of a 'safety' type. We always knew them as 'Blue-lights' (though they did not burn blue!). What where they originally used for? Well, in his 'Wreck of the Golden Mary' Charles Dickens describes the use of 'Blue-lights' on deck aboard a stricken sailing vessel on the darkest of nights at sea. So it is possible they were an old fashioned emergency intense light source. Me and my mates loved 'em!