twas Christmas Eve in the workhouse................... I must have been asleep in 2013, as I don't now remember this interesting thread.
Worthy of commenting relative to Bryant & May, is that the year of Registration of Davidson Rd. 96945 (1888) was by coincidence the same year as the industrial action by the match girls at B. & M. in the east end of London.
Not the first time these girls had resorted to striking to resolve issues such as working conditions, pay and of course the infamous 'phossy jaw' that could afflict those who handled the dreaded stuff, and which went under the more technical name of phosphorus necrosis - a problem that continued into the C20. Various current media outlets tell us that we now have relative poverty ............... try reading contemporary Victorian accounts of working conditions, social deprivation and what was often a short life-span, particularly relevant to the B. & M. working conditions, and then say we have poverty in the U.K. in 2017.
For those who might not know, Rd. 153858 mentioned by Andrew, is dated 02.08.1890.
Fred - as far as Rd. 96945 is concerned, I take it from what has been said that this Registration was protecting the pressed design only, and not any particular shape?
If you would like copies of the TNA Davidson factory drawings of 96945, 153858 and/or 176566 - assuming we don't already have them - do shout and I will include these on my next visit to Kew.