In 1871 Robert Lowe, the Chancellor of the Exchequer, attempted to introduce a tax of  d per hundred matches. "The Times", in a leader on the proposal, opined that the tax was "a singularly reactionary proposal" that would affect the poor more heavily. Match-making companies complained about the new levy and arranged a mass-meeting at Victoria Park, London on Sunday 23 April; 3,000 match workers attended, the majority of whom were from Bryant & May. It was resolved to march on the following day to the Houses of Parliament to present a petition. Several thousand match-makers set off from Bow Road in an orderly fashion.