The Guiana Match Factory

TIMES INT'L
Vintage matchbox label, called The Winner, said to have been made in British Guiana
Vintage matchbox label, called The Winner, said to have been made in British Guiana
Early Guiana Match Company matchbox label
Early Guiana Match Company matchbox label
The Guiana Match Company Lighthouse brand independence commemorative cover
The Guiana Match Company Lighthouse brand independence commemorative cover

According to one source, the Guiana Match Factory was founded in Georgetown, British Guiana in 1910. In the book “Igniting the Caribbean’s Past: Fire in British West Indian History” by Bonham C. Richardson, it is stated that the match factory opened in British Guiana in 1883.

Juanita De Barros, in her book “Order and Place in a Colonial City: Patterns of Struggle and Resistance in Georgetown, British Guiana, 1889-1924” states that there were two match factories near Georgetown in the late 19th – early 20th century.

In a 1903 Hansard report of a British parliamentary discussion on British Guiana’s protective duty on matches, it was stated that there is only knowledge of one such factory.

A 1955 report on the factory later noted that by then there was only one match factory.

In April 1932, the Guiana Match Factory Limited began manufacturing cigarettes under the ‘Lighthouse’ brand, named after Georgetown’s famous lighthouse landmark located in the Kingston area, near the Demerara River.

In 1966, when the country became independent, the name of the factory was changed to the Guyana Match Company Limited, which was by then located at 25 Vreed-en-Hoop, West Bank Demerara.

It closed down sometime later. The building, which was partially destroyed by fire in 2009,is now owned by Demerara Distillers Limited.

Matchbox covers or labels of the company have since become scarce collectors’ items. A phillumenist is a collector of matchboxes, matchbox labels and/or all things related to it.  (Guyana Times Sunday Magazine)

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