Chimney Sweeps 18th Century
A History of Chimney Sweeps.
Chimney sweeps 18th century. In 1864 Lord Shaftesbury brought in the Act for the Regulation of Chimney Sweepers which established a penalty of 1000 for offenders. Additionally the poor hygiene conditions at the time meant that these children would bathe normally once a year and would often work naked repeatedly exposing. These were usually small boys between the ages of 5 and 10.
It was common in the 18th and early 19th century for a Master Sweeps take in young children from the streets and turn them into apprentices. Yet some masters wanted their apprentices to look the part. A chimney sweep is a person who clears ash and soot from chimneysThe chimney uses the pressure difference caused by a hot column of gas to create a draught and draw air over the hot coals or wood enabling continued combustion.
Joseph Glass worked in the 18th century to design equipment to clean chimneys including canes and brushes that are pretty similar to the modern tools used by chimney sweeps today. Chimneys may be straight or contain many changes of direction. When someone mentions the job role of the chimney sweep generally the image conjured up by the imagination is that of an 17th or 18th century man or child in black attire covered in soot from toe to cap.
Chimney sweeps cancer also called soot wart is a squamous cell carcinoma of the skin of the scrotumIt has the distinction of being the first reported form of occupational cancer and was initially identified by Percivall Pott in 1775. The masters gave the young sweeps some trousers a tunic waistcoat. Efforts were made through the years to put an end to the cruel practice of using.
Chimney Sweep Cancer was unique to chimney sweeps and is the first recorded form of industrial cancer. And this may be the era that many believe the profession began as coal was beginning to be used as a source. The English press of the late 18th and 19th century was filled with dozens of reports of fatal accidents involving climbing boys.
Others become lodged in flues and suffocated. Find out about the life of a young Victorian child working as a chimney-sweep. Workplace accidents posed a more immediate danger for these young chimney sweeps.
One nineteenth-century person called them wretched little beings and another gave a description of the chimney sweeps life in the following way. It was initially noticed as being prevalent amongst chimney sweeps. Some sweeps in the early to mid 18th century wore sheepskin but later judged it expensive and not practical.
Sometimes their cold-hearted masters would light fires to spur the sweeps on to climb more quickly. In the early part of the 18th century various types of chimney cleaning methods were being developed. Second hand rags and clothes from markets made up the garb of the 19th century.
Child chimney sweeps were required to crawl through chimneys which were only about 18 inches wide. During normal operation a layer of creosote builds up on the inside of the chimney restricting the flow. A child who worked as a chimney sweep rarely grew to live past middle age.
18th century chimney-sweep cancer was predominantly found in English chimney sweeps probably because the chimney flues were narrower and Londoners often hired young boys aged between 4 and 7 years who could fit through the ducts. Some fell from roofs or down chimney structures. The French chimney sweep known as le ramoneur was usually a young boy between the age of eight and ten years oldThey carried their licenses in their soot bag and lived a hard life.
A few were roasted alive after being forced up chimneys still hot from the previous. For marketing purposes if nothing else to attract prospective customers. New Innovation in Chimney Sweeping.
Although chimney sweeping was common across Europe and North America during the 18th century chimney-sweep cancer was predominantly found in English chimney sweeps probably because the chimney flues were narrower and Londoners often hired young boys aged between 4 and 7 years who could fit through the ducts. Fireplaces faded into the background as a primary heating source in the 1960s as gas and electricity became widely used.
