According to the website, Today I Found Out, lighters were invented in the 16th century out of a converted flintlock pistol. The discovery was credited to a German chemist named Johann Wolfgang Dobereiner as the inventor of the first lighter. Note this was before the invention of the actual match in 1826.
It wasn’t until 1826 that John Walker from England invented the first actual match. However, Walker’s matches weren’t very reliable until 5 years later when a man named Charles Sauria of France managed to develop a match that used white phosphorus.
