Climbing Boys

The climbing boys, and sometimes girls, were technically called chimney sweeps apprentices, and were apprenticed to a master sweep, who being an adult, was too large to fit into a chimney or flue. The children became the property of the master sweeps and were virtually always cruelly treated, essentially living the life of slaves in some of the worst conditions imaginable.

The master sweep would be paid by the parish to teach orphans or paupers the craft. They were totally reliant on him - they or their guardians had signed Papers of Indenture, in front of a magistrate, which bound them to him until they were adults. It was the duty of the Poor Law guardians to apprentice as many children of the workhouse in their care as possible, so as to reduce costs to the parish. The master sweep had duties: to teach the craft and its mysteries, to provide the apprentice with a second suit of clothes, to have him cleaned once a week, allow him to attend church, and not send him up chimneys that were on fire. An apprentice agreed to obey his master. Once his seven year long apprenticeship was completed he would become a journeyman sweep, and would continue to work for a master sweep of his choice. Other apprentices were sold on to the sweep, or sold by their parents. Prices ranged from 7 shillings to 4 guineas.

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It was generally agreed that six was a good age to train a boy. Though Lord Shaftesbury once encountered one of the age of four, they were considered to be too weak. A master sweep would have many apprentices, they would start the morning by roaming the streets calling out "Soot -Oh, Sweep" or another cry to let the house-owners know they were around - this would remind the owners of the dangers of un-swept chimneys. When engaged, the master sweep would fix a cloth over the fireplace, and the climbing boy would take off his boots and any excess clothes, then get behind it. The flue would be as tall as the house and twist several times, and its dimensions would be 14in by 9in. He would pull his cap down over his face and hold a large flat brush over his head, and wedge his body diagonally in the flue. Using his back, elbows and knees, he would shimmy up the flue in the manner of a caterpillar and use the brush to dislodge loose soot, which would fall over him and down to the bottom, and a scraper to chip away the solid bits, as a smooth chimney was a safe chimney. Having reached the top he would slide back down at speed back to the floor and the soot pile. It was now his job to bag up the soot and carry it back to the master sweep's cart or yard.

 Soot was valuable and could be sold for 9d a bushel in 1840. An apprentice would do four or five chimneys a day. When they first started they scraped their knees and elbows, so the master would harden up their skin by standing them close to a hot fire and rubbing in strong brine using a brush. This was done each evening until the skin hardened. The boys received no wages but lived with the master who fed them. They slept together on the floor or in the cellar under the sacks and the cloth used during the day to catch the soot. This was known as "sleeping black" The boy would be washed by the mistress in a tub in the yard, this may happen as often as once a week, but rarely did.

Sometimes, a boy would need to be persuaded to climb faster or higher up the chimney Many masters used a dangerous punishment: the child was forced up the flue then a fire was lit.  Since he couldn't come down, they had no choice but to climb up the flue. This may be where the term "light a fire under your butt" originated. Another method which also helped stop them from "going off" was to send another boy up behind him to prick pins into the soles of his feet or buttocks.

 literarylondon.org

Chimneys varied in size. The common flue was designed to be one and a half bricks long by one brick wide, though the often narrowed to one brick square, that is 9 inches (230 mm) by 9 inches (230 mm) or less. Often the chimney would still be hot from the fire, occasionally it would actually be on fire. Careless climbing boys could get stuck with their knees jammed against their chins. The harder they struggled the tighter they became wedged. They could remain in this position for many hours until they were pushed out from below or pulled out with a rope. If their struggling caused a fall of soot they would suffocate. Dead or alive the boy had to be removed and this would be done by removing bricks from the side of the chimney. If the chimney was particularly narrow the boys would be told to "buff it", that is to do it naked, otherwise they just wore trousers, and a shirt made from thick rough cotton cloth.

These however were not the only occupational hazards that chimney sweeps suffered. In the 1817 report to Parliament witnesses reported that climbing boys suffered from general neglect, In addition they exhibited stunted growth and deformity of the spine, legs and arms, that, in the 1810s, was put down to being required to remain in abnormal positions for long periods of time before their bones had hardened.. The knees and ankle joints were the most affected. Sores and inflammation of the eyelids that could lead to loss of sight were slow in healing because the boy kept rubbing them. Bruises and burns were obvious hazards of having to work in an overheated environment. Cancer of the scrotum was only found in Chimneys sweeps so was referred to as Chimney Sweep Cancer in the teaching hospitals. Asthma and inflammation of the chest was attributed to the fact that the boys were out in all weather. Chimney sweeps cancer which the sweeps called soot wart didn't occur until the sweep was in his late teens or twenties.

There were many deaths caused by accidents, frequently caused by the boy becoming jammed in the flue of a heated chimney, where they could suffocate or be burned to death. Sometimes a second boy would be sent to help, and on occasions would suffer the same fate. Although hardly common, there were several cases where children got stuck without anyone being aware. Naturally, they started a blaze and the result was the literal roasting of a young boy to death. It was tragedies like these that led to awareness of the dangers of this situation and several laws were passed to address it. Most of these were not enforced.  It would not be until the Chimney Sweeper Act of 1875 that any serious overhaul of the world of child chimney sweeps would be enacted.

This practice of sending small boys up and down chimneys in order to ensure that they were free of harmful creosote deposits was the norm in England for approximately 200 years. A child who worked as a chimney sweep rarely grew to live past middle age. Efforts were made through the years to put an end to the cruel practice of using child chimney sweeps, but they failed until 1875.  The death of 12-year-old chimney sweep George Brewster became the catalyst which finally pushed through legislation that outlawed the cruel practice.

George Brewster became stuck in one of the chimneys in Fulbourn Hospital.  His master, William Wyer, had sent George into that situation.  A wall had to be torn down to free George from his narrow prison.  He died a short time later.  Wyer was charged and found guilty of manslaughter.  George Brewster was the last child chimney sweep in England to die in a chimney.

Sources:

http://voices.yahoo.com/the-true-story-hard-life-child-chimney-sweeps-1670947.html

http://www.cchimney.com/Sweepers.html

sourcehttp://www.ctsweep.com/blog/top-sweep-stories/child-chimney-sweeps/

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chimney_sweep