Chimney Sweeps 1800 S England

It was a brutal dreary existence for victorian child chimney sweeps.

Chimney sweeps 1800 s england.

A victorian child chimney sweep may have been the most dangerous job for children in the 1800 s especially when the child first started doing the job. They were lowered into narrow chimneys by their owner and forced to clean soot grime and creosote from the chimney flue. How chimney sweeps lived in the 1800s. Some were as young as 3 years old.

More than one hundred and twenty of them were widows who had taken over their husband s businesses. In early 1800 england immediately after the industrial revolution and during the victorian era child chimney sweeps faced a hellish task. Joseph glass an engineer from bristol england invented the original brushes and rods used to clean chimneys. It s a story of a little boy chimney sweep who escapes his cruel life and goes on a fantasy adventure.

There were eight hundred chimney sweeps in and around london and those tradesmen employed four hundred journeymen and sixty two boys. In september of 1875 a bill was pushed through which put a stop to the practice of using children as chimney sweeps. These were usually small boys between the ages of 5 and 10 although most were under the age of seven and some were even as young as four. Child chimney sweeps are remembered and honored every year in england in early may.

Then in february of 1875 a 12 year old chimney sweep named george brewster became stuck in fulbourn hospital chimneys where he was sent by william wyer his master. In the year 1841 the number of chimney sweeps in britain totaled 5028.