Chimney sweeps

From Roy Hoare:

Chimney sweeps planting sooty kisses on blushing brides was once considered good luck, but now it is a custom of the past, as both parties are rather rare. No longer are the few remaining sweeps the grimy individuals with cloth cap and overalls but clinically white-coated operatives who vacuum away every smut.

Before 1864, their predecessors, the Sweep Masters and their journeymen employed climbing boys to shin up flues and brush down the soot. These climbing boys and some girls were taken into so-called apprenticeships upon payment of perhaps 5 guineas to the parents, whereupon the child would become the property of the Sweep Master. An item in Jackson’s Oxford Journal of 16th Nov. 1764 shows that John Lay, apprentice to Richard Dormer, had absconded and a reward of half-a-crown (25p in today’s money) was offered for his return. The article gave his full description and forbade anyone to harbour or entertain him.

The so-called apprenticeship consisted of a brief period of watching, then being thrust into the flue with an experienced boy behind; any reluctance on the part of the ‘tyro’ would prompt the slapping or pricking of his feet. The discomfort and horrific conditions they experienced resulted in scrapes, burns, sore eyes and constant chest infections. In their later years many suffered from cancers of the lips and scrotum, which was known as the sweeps cancer and rarely seen elsewhere.
Major accidents were commonplace. In March 1813 an eight-year-old boy named Pitt became firmly stuck in a chimney that had only recently been extinguished. After part of the chimney had been demolished, he was found to be dead and his elbows and knees had been burnt to the bone. These incidents were deemed to be accidental deaths. A law was passed in 1864 to end this horrendous practice but not without some opposition in Government. One noble enquired, ‘How would I know that my chimneys were being swept properly?’
In the early 17th century Italians from Piedmont came to England to work as sweeps. Today, in the first week of September each year, hundreds of chimney sweeps meet at Santa Maria Maggiori in Piedmont. A brotherhood of sweeps meet to drink, and generally ‘whoop it up’. A museum to their profession was opened there in 1975 and has become their Mecca. It also serves as a memorial to the many children who endured such suffering.

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