Child Chimney Sweeps In Victorian Times
A chimney sweep uses brushes and sticks to dislodge and sweep away the soot from the walls of the chimney and collects the soot in bags for disposal.
Child chimney sweeps in victorian times. This edited article about Victorian England first appeared in Look and Learn issue number 525 published on 5 February 1972. From 1773 master chimney sweeps regularly kept anywhere from 2 to 20 children depending on how many they could use for their business. 5 to 9 year old Chimney sweeps would come out of a chimney covered from head.
Child labor was more prevalent among the more lower class families in the victorian period where the parents would sign away their childs life as a chimney sweep which could have been considered a death sentence or sending them to work in factories managing and repairing dangerous equipment. Old-timey chimney sweeps had no legal protections until the Chimney Sweeps Act of 1834. Small boys starting at the age of 5 or 6 years would be sent scrambling up inside the chimney to scrape and brush soot away.
The Act for the Better Regulation of Chimney Sweepers and their Apprentices was passed in 1788 to enable a better life for chimney sweepers. After a hard days work there was little relief at all as they mostly slept in basements using dirty soot sacks as covering. Child chimney sweeps are remembered and honored every year in England in early May.
Some bosses underfed child chimney sweeps to keep them thin enough to fit up the chimneys. Chimney Sweeps Chimney sweeping was a job children could do better than adults. Efforts were made through the years to put an end to the cruel practice of using child chimney sweeps.
The three episodes explore what life was like for young boys working as chimney-sweeps during the Victorian eraincluding the fear of getting trapped in a chimney flue. They came down covered in soot and with bleeding elbows and knees. DO NOT translate and re-uploa.
But unfortunately it was not enforced. A child who worked as a chimney sweep rarely grew to live past middle age. The First Industrial Disease in.
The new buildings were taller with more narrow flues. With chimney sweep apprenticeships starting at a young age the profession involved heights unclean environments and risks. Being a chimney sweep in the Victorian era was a poor existence for many children who were required to clean chimneys for a living.
Chimney sweep and boy by Alberto Salinas If you keep a diary you will know how useful it can be later for recalling just exactly what you did at a certain time. The design is still used today. Joseph Glass an engineer from Bristol England invented the original brushes and rods used to clean chimneys.
The homeowners of Victorian homes used chimney sweeps to go up the chimneys to clean the soot. As properties of master sweeps these kids had nowhere to go and considered baths a luxury. The prominence of using small children as chimney sweeps began after the Great Fire of London which occurred September 2nd through 5th 1666.
Living Conditions of Child Chimney Sweeps in Victorian Times. The children cleaned chimneys with their hands or with their scrapers. Their small bodies and frame made them the perfect size for entering and cleaning the chimneys.
Some of the boys who carried out this work were as young as 3-4 years old and had to work in sooty unhealthy conditions. Life for Victorian Children in Victorian times 1830 to 1900 was nothing like childhood in todays world. Child Chimney Sweeps In The Industrial Revolution Well be looking at events that led to the recruitment of children to serve as chimney sweeps the health hazards they were exposed to and also the inhuman conditions they worked under during the Victorian Era.
Children in the victorian period were expected to work from the time they could walk. In September of 1875 a bill was pushed through which put a stop to the practice of using children as chimney sweeps. The life of an old-timey chimney sweep during the Victorian Era was far from easy.
Victorian Chimney Sweep Facts for Kids Children were used as chimney sweeps because they could fit up the narrow chimneys much more easily than adults. Some chimney sweeps were as young as 3 years old. For each child the master sweep was paid 3-4 pounds by the government when the apprenticeship agreement was signed.
Chimney sweeps in Victorian times lived in terrible conditions.
