Children and Chimneys
From the late 18th century children formed a rising proportion of the population and it was common for them to work to supplement family incomes. Orphans and abandoned children came under the care of the Poor Law, but were usually put into the care of employers who provided for them in return for their work.
Parliamentary concern over the exploitation of child labour in the 19th century is usually associated with factories. In fact the beginnings of such concern was focused on the ‘climbing boys’ recruited by chimney sweeps or apprenticed by parish authorities to climb into and clean chimneys.
In the 1760s, Jonas Hanway, a wealthy London merchant and philanthropist, campaigned extensively to improve working conditions for sweeps’ apprentices and eventually the Chimney Sweepers Act of 1788 stipulated that:
- No boy should be bound apprentice before he was eight years old.
- His parents’ consent must be obtained.
- The master sweep must promise to provide suitable clothing and living conditions, as well as an opportunity to attend church on Sundays.
The clause inserted into the Bill requiring Master Sweeps to be licensed was voted down in the House of Lords.
There seems to have been no enforcement of the Act and abuses continued.
In 1834 the Chimney Sweeps Act was passed outlawing the apprenticing of any child below the age of ten. Furthermore, no child was to be actually engaged in cleaning chimneys under the age of 14. As with earlier legislation, this was largely ignored due to the absence of any means of enforcement. Children younger than ten were still being made to climb chimneys.
In 1863 the publication of ‘The Water-Babies’, by Charles Kingsley, did much to raise public awareness about the gross mistreatment of children in this kind of employment through its central character, Tom, a child chimney sweep. Parliament responded the following year with a new Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act. This was ineffective despite its humane purpose.
In 1875, a successful solution was implemented by the Chimney Sweepers’ Act which required sweeps to be licensed and made it the duty of the police to enforce all previous legislation.
JOHN PARKER
6th August 2024
