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Title: Society for Superseding the Necessity of Climbing Boys, by Encouraging a New Method of Sweeping Chimneys: Twenty-First Report, May 1, 1837
Author: Anonymous
Language: English
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NECESSITY OF CLIMBING BOYS, BY ENCOURAGING A NEW METHOD OF SWEEPING
CHIMNEYS ***
SOCIETY
FOR
SUPERSEDING THE NECESSITY
OF
CLIMBING BOYS,
BY ENCOURAGING
A NEW METHOD OF SWEEPING CHIMNEYS.
INSTITUTED ON THE FOURTH OF FEBRUARY, 1803.
“Blessed are the merciful, for they shall obtain mercy.”
LONDON:
PRINTED FOR THE SOCIETY,
BY A. MACINTOSH, 20, GREAT NEW STREET, FETTER LANE:
AND MAY BE HAD GRATIS OF THE HONORARY SECRETARY,
1, NEW BRIDGE STREET.
1837.
PATRON.
THE KING.
PRESIDENT.
The Right Rev. the Lord Bishop of Winchester.
VICE-PRESIDENTS.
His Grace the Duke of BEDFORD,
His Grace the Duke of SUTHERLAND,
Marquis of WESTMINSTER,
Earl MORLEY,
Earl HARROWBY,
Earl SURREY, M.P.,
Lord AUCKLAND,
Lord WILLOUGHBY DE ERESBY,
Sir THOMAS BARING, Bart.,
MATTHEW WOOD, Esq., M.P.,
FREDERICK WEBB, Esq.
TREASURER.
WILLIAM TOOKE, Esq., M.P., F.R.S.
COMMITTEE.
BURGESS, W. H., Esq.
CHIPPENDALE, JOHN, Esq.,
FRANCIS, CHARLES, Esq.,
GILLETT, GABRIEL, Esq.,
HEISCH, P. J., Esq.,
HUDSON, J. C., Esq.,
LABOUCHERE, JOHN, Esq.,
RICHARDSON, T., Esq.,
SMITH, R., Esq.,
SOPER, JAMES, Esq.
HONORARY SECRETARY.
ROBERT STEVEN, Esq., 1, New Bridge-street.
COLLECTOR.
Mr. HENRY CLEMSON, 7, Grange-road, Bermondsey.
THE
TWENTY-FIRST REPORT
OF THE
SOCIETY FOR SUPERSEDING CLIMBING BOYS.
Your Committee has great pleasure in announcing that the present year
has been characterized by a degree of success more than equal to the
experience of any former years.
The number of subscribers has fallen off, but Providence still
continues to smile upon the efforts that are made, and the richest
encouragement is afforded to those who feel for this branch of the
miseries of human nature. Before the short detail of proceedings is
entered upon, it may be well to give a brief outline of the Society’s
origin and objects, together with the grounds which led to the
establishment of the Association; many persons hearing of the subject
for the first time, by means of the Annual Report.
The following are the reasons which induced its supporters to unite in
this work of mercy:--
1st. They ascertained by the examination of the children employed in
this trade, that unfair and dishonest means are always resorted to, to
obtain a supply of boys. That the season of probation, or “liking,”
as it is called, which precedes the binding of apprentices, is marked
by all that duplicity and misrepresentation can invent, to mislead
the children who are sent on trial; that little or no work is imposed
on them during that time; that every indulgence is granted that can
weigh with persons in that station of life; that they are petted in
the sitting room of the master, and fed in a comparatively sumptuous
way,--and hence arises the positive and unchangeable determination of
the child, to be a chimney-sweeper, and nothing else, when brought
before the magistrate to be bound.
2dly. That grievous pain and sorrow are found invariably to attend the
after stages of this apprenticeship.
3dly. That it is a business to which children ought not to be put, as
it affords no support after a boy has reached 15 or 16 years of age, at
the latest.
4thly. That employing children in this trade, subjects them in
after-life to the disease lectured upon separately in the hospitals as
chimney-sweepers’ cancer, and which disease only befals those who are
thus employed.
These grounds led to the formation of the Society. It was at first
supposed that it would only be necessary to offer a premium for the
production of a machine capable of sweeping, and that it would be
instantly adopted by the existing race of chimney-sweepers.
With this impression, machines were given away on a large scale in all
directions, and everything avoided that could seem to interfere with
the members of the trade. This act of ill-directed liberality was met
by the most virulent hostility, and every machine thus put into the
hand of a common chimney-sweeper, was employed, as far as in him lay,
to destroy the object of the bestower: these heartless men, having at
once discovered that chimneys were so much better cleansed by this
means, that the sweeping would be wanted less frequently than if boys
were continued; and further, that if children were given up, men would
be required to work the machines, and this would break in upon the
masters’ profits.
These assertions are proved by the fact of the chimney-sweepers having
combined to resist every attempt that has been made to introduce the
machines; and in the year 1834, when a Bill was sought for, they are
said to have expended 1,200_l._ upon counsel, Parliamentary agent, and
witnesses; and these witnesses evinced but little regard to truth.
This outlay of money was severely felt, and it was an expense the
trade would not have incurred to “protect their customers” alone. If
their object had been a straightforward one, they would have protested
against the adoption of the plan promoted by the Fire-offices; they
would have declared that, in THEIR opinion, it was the abandonment of a
safe method, and the adoption of a fanciful and dangerous substitute;
but they would not have _taxed themselves_ for a headstrong public.
People are beginning to see this in its right light, and having
ascertained that the trade of the common chimney-sweeper is upheld
by deceit, these men are now met at every point with distrust and
suspicion. Necessity compelled your Committee to set up honest men to
work the machine fairly, and by this means a way is opened for the
total abolition of the revolting practice of employing children in
this business. The determination of the common chimney-sweepers above
alluded to, continues to the present hour in full force (see page 9);
and no man, during the last twenty years, has ever been found to use
the machine faithfully, if he retains a single child in his service for
the purpose of sweeping chimneys.
Your Committee would now enumerate some of the transactions of the
year that is gone by. The first cheering result of their labours is
the having obtained the work at the India-House for your Agents. Many
attempts had been made to attain this object, but every previous
application to the inferiors in the establishment, had been met with
grave assurances of the utter impossibility of cleansing the majority
of the Company’s chimneys with a machine; and a mock trial of it was
got up. This year the subject was most favourably introduced to the
notice of the Directors by a benevolent and influential man, and
happily it was found in this, as in all other cases, that the defect
had been in the mind, and not in the machine. Encouraged by this
success, an application was made to Timothy Curtis, Esq., then the
Deputy Governor of the Bank, begging him to appoint Glass, one of your
Agents, as the chimney-sweeper to that establishment. In answer to
this, the Deputy Governor directed, in the handsomest manner possible,
and with a frankness which always characterizes his movements, that
an experiment should be made of the comparative efficiency of the two
systems, in the presence of the Clerk of the Works. The following is a
copy of his Report:--
“Bank of England, Dec. 31, 1836.
“I, the undersigned, do hereby certify, that I received the orders of
the Deputy Governor of the Bank, to try the comparative efficiency
of sweeping chimneys by boys, and by Glass’s Machine; that such
experiment was made in the Bank, in my presence, by sweeping eleven
chimneys; that out of this number, five were swept by boys, and six
were swept by the machine; that the five swept by the boys were
afterwards swept by the machine, and the six swept by the machine,
were afterwards swept by the boys; and that the following is the
result:--
“Soot brought down by the boys, after six chimneys were considered
fairly swept by the machine, 19 quarts. Soot brought down by Glass’s
Machine out of five chimneys, after the boys had finished their
labours, 41 quarts and a half.
(Signed,) “GEO. TOPPLE,
“Clerk of the Works.”
This, as may be supposed, led to the discharge of the then existing
chimney-sweeper, and the appointment of your Agent.
Your Committee has great pleasure in stating, that the same Agent
is now employed at the Phœnix Fire-office, which is considered very
important.
Repeated attempts had been made to gain this point, and the success in
this house neutralizes, in a great measure, the mischievous evidence
before the Lords’ Committee, which was given by the Manager of that
establishment. And your Committee has much satisfaction in stating,
that the machine was regularly employed in this Fire-office, for some
months before the lamented death of the gentleman alluded to.
The following Fire-offices have promised to employ your different
Agents, in addition to those who have already certified to the
efficiency of the machine:--
Phœnix Fire-office,--Jenkin Jones, Esq., deceased.
West of England Fire-office,--Jas. Anderton, Esq.
York and North of England Fire-office,--Edmund Barlow, Esq.
The Licensed Victuallers Fire-office,--J. T. Clement, Esq.
The Scottish Union Fire-office,--F. G. Smith, Esq.
Leaving “The Sun” as the only Fire-office in the city of London which
resists the light, and the only Fire-office which turns a deaf ear to
the cries of misery; and verily it is a proud and enviable distinction.
Some years ago your machine was introduced into the Middlesex Hospital,
and your Committee has heard, within these few weeks, that the
Secretary of the Institution caused a quiet experiment to be made in
that house, after the Board had ordered the adoption of the machine. It
was so managed, that neither your Agent nor the old chimney-sweeper
knew that the two systems were to be compared, and it is stated by the
Secretary, that the chimneys were found so clean, that the boys were
literally unable to bring down any soot, after Day, another of the
Society’s Agents, had swept with the machine.
Those who keep in mind the proceedings of the Society, will recollect
that a similar experiment was ordered publicly at St. George’s
Hospital, in 1830, the triumphant success of which, determined that
Board of Governors also to employ one of your Agents.
This has of course been a constant mortification to Bentley, the
chimney-sweeper, who lost the work, and many stratagems have been
resorted to, to recover it again; and on the 15th of February last,
he induced an influential member of the Board to bring the subject
forward; when the following division took place among the Governors;
For reinstating Bentley and his boys, with the clear
understanding that the machine is to be used when
_practicable_ 8
For Shepherd, your Agent, who had swept every
chimney in the house for years, without the help of
boys 7
Before this disastrous Resolution was confirmed in the next week, the
subject was rather better understood, and the division was--
For Shepherd, your Agent 12
For Bentley, his boys, and his practicabilities 0
The only argument urged in the above case was, that Bentley took his
boys to church. This is a very stale argument of the Bentleys, both
father and son, and it would be difficult to prove what the fact has to
do with the matter in hand, or to reconcile it with the evidence which
was given by the elder Bentley upon oath before the Lords’ Committee in
1834.
(Examined by his own Counsel.)
“Were you present at any experiment that was tried at St. George’s
Hospital?” (in 1830.)
“I certainly was.”
“Have the goodness to state the result of that experiment?”
“There were some machines appointed to be there, and I was appointed to
be there with some boys; they had, I believe, used machinery; but there
were not fair means resorted to.”
“Will you tell the whole story?”
“The very man who worked the machine for Mr. Glass has come forward and
stated his willingness to prove, that by order of Mr. Day he carried
some soot unfairly in his cloth: I was not aware that it did not come
down the chimney.”
“Were you not sharp enough to see that?”
“No; I had no such idea as that they would be guilty of such a thing.”
“One-fifth more soot was brought down by the machine than by the boys?”
“Yes; so they said.”
“Do you mean to say, that the man who worked the machine acted
unfairly?”
“Yes.”
“Do you know where he got the soot?”
“He brought it from one fire-place to another, that was not to be swept
after the machine.”
“Have not your boys a desire to win, when they are brought for
experiments of that kind?”
“Yes; but there were unfair means; which was quite a sufficient excuse
for them.”
This is a most extraordinary testimony, and, if true, would show a
total abandonment of principle on the part of your Agents, and the
servants of the Hospital, and brings to mind the vulgar adage, “Surely
if the old woman had not hidden in the oven herself, she would never
have looked there for her daughter.” Probably Mr. Bentley is not at
church when that beautiful characteristic of Christianity is insisted
on in these words, “Charity thinketh no evil; and charity hopeth all
things.”
By this allusion to the church, Mr. Bentley appears willing to work
upon the sympathies of the public, to a certain extent, so that it does
not interfere with his own purpose.
It is deeply to be regretted that the energies of good people are
directed to “bettering the condition of these poor children,” as it
is called, when, by a little Christian co-operation, the employment
which gives them their singularity, and which is said to prevent
their mingling with other children, might be done away. The value of
religious instruction, and the imperative duty of all constantly to
attend the services of religion, are too self-evident to require an
enforcement here. But why those who are so kindly disposed, should
prefer ministering to these children in their wretchedness, to freeing
them from the wretchedness itself, is a mystery hard to be understood.
Your Committee would state that the Agents of the Society are
exclusively employed in the houses of Fifteen Noblemen, and that the
Society is gaining most exceedingly upon the good opinion of the
community in general.
A Resolution has passed the Town Council of Bath, ordaining that
the chimneys in all the houses belonging to that Corporation shall
in future be swept by machinery. The Mayor’s Lady writes:--“Finding
upon inquiry that here, as in Bristol, the machine keepers, though
professing to forego the use of boys, keep them, and most generally use
them, it occurred to me that we might have one of Glass’s Machines, and
establish it on our own terms. I am enabled to inform you, that the
machine has arrived, and answers very well. Not wishing to have one of
the chimney-sweeping fraternity, we have selected a respectable man,
who appears to manage the undertaking very well. He is already feeling
some of the trials of the business, in the persecuting spirit of the
chimney-sweepers; but having the Mayor of the city as his patron, we
hope we may proceed without much opposition.”
Your Agents are constantly employed in One Hundred and Ten Government
and other Public Buildings, and in Eleven Banking Houses.
Twenty-two Thousand One Hundred and Ninety-three chimneys have been
swept by your Agents in London and its immediate neighbourhood during
the past year.
Machines have been purchased since the last Report by His Grace
the Duke of Leinster; the Earl of Cawdor; Lord Skelmersdale; Lord
Lynedoch; the Right Hon. B. Bathurst, Lydney Park. And by persons at
the following places--Bath, 2; Belfast, 1; Brighton, 4; Deptford,
1; Gloucester, 1; Greenwich, 1; Hounslow, 1; Ipswich, 1; London, 6;
Liverpool, 1; Margate, 1; March, 1; Northampton, 1; Newcastle-on-Tyne,
1; Stone, 1; Wellington, 1; Wisbeach, 1.--Total, 31.
Thirteen soot doors have been put into Thirteen chimneys during the
past year, at an average expense of 14s. 7½d. each, to adapt these
ill-built chimneys to the use of the machine: this is all that is
required, and this alteration is the real amount of what is described
by the enemies of the cause as a most serious destruction of house
property, and involving an outlay of money, not for one moment to be
conceded.
The foregoing has been selected from among the agreeable transactions
of the year.
Your Committee would now draw your attention to a part of the painful
evidence which is forced upon them, of the utter impossibility of
regulating the trade aright, if children are to be at all employed in
it.
The following details are selected from what has occurred since the
last Report:--
Peter Mollby of Kilkenny, stood charged with the murder of James Shea,
his apprentice, a child of ten years old.
It appeared in evidence that the little creature had been treated with
such habitual cruelty and indifference as to cause his death, but no
one instance could be fixed upon as establishing the crime of actual
murder.
The sentence was, therefore, “Manslaughter,” and Mollby was transported
for life.
A case of revolting cruelty has been brought home to Needes, a
chimney-sweeper at Bath, who was convicted before the Mayor of such
grievous ill-treatment, as that wretched race of beings is alone
exposed to. The child was discovered lying in the street, with his head
so cut as to require surgical assistance, and he was proved by the
surgeon’s certificate to be too ill to leave the Hospital, when his
master was brought up.
The next case is from Gloucester:--
On Thursday, the 27th of Oct., a chimney-sweeper, a diminutive child,
about ten years of age, was sent up a chimney at the Talbot Inn, at
nine o’clock in the morning, and for the purpose of lessening his size
to suit the dimensions of the flue, he was stripped entirely naked.
Having remained up the chimney for a very long time, it was thought
that he was continuing there unnecessarily, and from stubbornness, and
another lad was sent up to him; but he failed in bringing him down.
After a lapse of some hours, a cord was attached to the child’s legs,
and several vain attempts were made to drag him down by force. In this
experiment the cord was broken, and a stronger one was substituted,
with no better success. The humane party then obtained a large quantity
of brimstone matches--it is said three pennyworth, which were ignited,
and held burning up the flue. A ladder was next procured, reaching
to the top of the chimney, from whence several buckets of water were
poured down upon the poor little prisoner; and a pole was thrust down
to discover his position, with such force, that several lumps were
afterwards found upon the poor child’s head.
These mild and gentle efforts were continued at intervals through the
day, till nine o’clock in the evening.
By this time a large crowd had assembled in the neighbourhood, and
among the number were some more sensible and humane people than those
before alluded to, and they insisted that by opening the chimney an
attempt should be made to liberate the child, who it was feared might
be dead, as he had not been heard to speak for some time. Masons were
accordingly sent for, and about ten o’clock at night, the poor little
creature was found firmly jammed by the head and shoulders in the
brickwork of the chimney.
Having been in such a situation, and subjected to such treatment as
this, and perfectly naked, for thirteen hours, it is needless to say
that he was in a most pitiable condition.
He was washed in warm water, when several excoriations were discovered
on his back and shoulders, and the skin rubbed off his ears; his head
was also sadly bruised. After being taken home, a surgeon was sent
for, and, it is stated with surprise, that though very ill, his life
was not considered in danger. A vain attempt to rebut this account
was made by the son of the proprietor of the Talbot Inn, in a letter
to Wm. Bulphin, a chimney-sweeper of Bristol, which letter is only
worthy of notice as containing an unintentional comment on the oft-told
tale, that children are required for examining and repairing defects
in chimneys, and which was so pertinaciously insisted on in the
evidence before the Committee of the House of Lords in 1834: it is as
follows:--“The foreman says, had he gone up as he ought to have done,
with one arm up and the other down, no accident could have happened;
instead of which both arms were DOWN.” Every one must see the
utter impossibility of a boy doing any thing in a chimney in the way
of examination or repairs, in a space 9 inches square, or 9 by 14, and
when the utmost skill is required to enable him to slide up and to
slide down again. This accident has led to the benevolent formation of
an Auxiliary Society in Gloucester, that city having been anxious to
wipe away the disgrace occasioned by such a painful occurrence.
In March last, a poor little chimney-sweeper had the following
providential escape, at the Luke’s Head, Mercer-street, Long Acre:--It
appears that the child had got into the chimney-pot to clean it, and
that his weight loosened the mortar by which it had been secured; and
the boy and the chimney-pot rolled down the roof of the house together.
Happily there was a sufficient height of parapet to save the child, and
he was taken up from the gutter, without any harm having befallen him.
The most appalling feature connected with the subject of
chimney-sweeping is the frequency of the chimney-sweeper’s cancer.
Immense pains are taken by the trade to conceal this grievous fact.
No chimney-sweeper has even seen a single instance of it. The idea of
such a calamity originates and ends in the clouded imaginations of your
Committee.
It may be well, however, to say, that four cases occurred in one ward
of one hospital within eight months of the past year, and that three of
the cases were fatal.
About this time another chimney-sweeper died of the same disease at
St. George’s Hospital. This was succeeded by the death of Price, a
chimney-sweeper, in Stafford’s-ward, at the Middlesex Hospital.
A fresh case is now under the observation of one of your Committee,
which cancer has been upon the poor sufferer for thirteen years. He was
asked several questions, and particularly whether he had been kept very
dirty as a child. His answers were as follow:--“No children could be
kept cleaner.” “I believe it to arise from drawing in the soot with the
breath in foul chimneys, for no cap will keep it out.” “I have been in
great pain for years, but now it has quite mastered me.” “The surgeons
talk of the cutting business.”
Another victim has also been seen this year by the same person in
a fifth hospital. This poor fellow has been afflicted three years.
Conversing with him on the unwillingness of the trade to work the
machine, it was said, “I believe the secret of the opposition arises
from its being so much easier to sit down and gossip with the servants
while the child is doing the work;” the poor fellow raised himself a
little from his bed, and exclaimed with great emphasis, “You have just
hit it, sir.”
Since these men were seen, another poor creature has been visited at
his own house by one of your Society. He is a man of thirty years of
age, and has had this affliction upon him for five years, and it has
made such ravages upon his frame, as to prevent his ever obtaining an
easy position for a single moment, and he may be seen for hours in an
afternoon, walking up and down the miserable court in which he lives,
in perfect agony. He was urged to go into the hospital, and a ticket
was offered him, but the dread of the surgeon’s knife has hitherto
deterred him.
About the middle of April inst., a poor chimney-sweeper came up twelve
miles from town to the Middlesex Hospital. He had suffered great pain
for two years, and it was feared that the disorder had too deep a hold
upon him to be ever removed, even if he had submitted to the awful
operation. The matter was fully explained to him. He was told that he
might remain as long as he pleased in the house; that the operation
would not be performed without his full consent; but the dread of
what he thought might possibly be done, induced him to leave all the
comforts by which he was surrounded, to die in all the wretchedness of
abject poverty. Making ten instances of this frightful disease that
have come to the knowledge of one member of your Committee in the year
ending with the 30th April, notwithstanding the incessant efforts of
the trade to conceal them.
Sir Astley Cooper, in his evidence before the Committee of the House of
Lords, in 1834, declares--“I believe the disease is entirely the result
of the specific irritation of the soot;” and again, “I must have seen,
I think, more than 100 cases of it in my experience. I have seen three
or four cases in a year, and having been thirty-four years surgeon to
one of the hospitals, the calculation is easy, and I think I am not
exceeding the truth, in saying, a hundred examples of it.” A very large
proportion of the comparatively few persons engaged in this wretched
trade.
Would that those who are so much amused with the Society’s efforts,
and who smile with so much self-satisfaction at the Society’s “busy
trifling,” could have gone the round of the cases above selected.
It was, no doubt, highly amusing to see the poor creatures lying on the
bed of languishing.
One was a young man of weak intellects, who had probably been an easy
prey to the vain promises held out to him in childhood, if he would be
a chimney-sweeper. It was an awful spectacle to see them motionless
in their beds, as the frightful disease was eating away their flesh,
because a British public cannot be induced to disturb themselves in a
matter “of such trifling importance.”
Men say, “Am I to be vexed and harassed, as though the guilt
of upholding the old system rested wholly upon me, because I,
individually, refuse to be a convert?” How are the following words to
be understood?--“If any man see his brother have need, and shutteth up
his bowels of compassion from him, how dwelleth the love of God in him?”
This sketch of the unavoidable misery connected with the trade is
calculated to awaken the attention of the public, and it is hoped that
it may call forth such contributions as are required to do away the
evil. If one surgeon, in one district, has had 100 of the cases under
his care, what would the experience of this city alone amount to?
In asking for pecuniary aid, your Committee would be far from pressing
the subject upon those whose means are small; from such they only ask,
that the Society’s Agents may be employed exclusively in their houses,
for by this the cause of humanity will be materially served, without
any additional cost to themselves; and they are earnestly entreated to
recommend the same course to their friends.
But an appeal of a very different kind is made to those who have ample
funds at their disposal, who are known to put aside large sums every
year for the purposes of Christian charity, but who have never made
this Society glad by their benevolence. There is no eclat connected
with this subject--but it is the ministering to the very humblest
class, who are visited in their filthy wretchedness and obscurity, with
a desire to free them from sorrows which are unknown to any other class
of the community.
Too much cannot be said of the liberality of this country, and yet no
effort is made to support an Association which labours to free helpless
infancy from broken-hearted sorrow, and to protect mature age from a
disease generally fatal.
The Society is literally dying for want of support; notwithstanding the
urgency of its claims, and the frequent appeals that have been made to
the public.
LIST OF CONTRIBUTIONS
TO THE SOCIETY.
_Don._ _Subscrip._
£. _s._ _d._ £. _s._ _d._
Ashley, Right Honourable
Lord (1837) 3 0 0
Allen, William, Esq. 1 1 0
Angerstein, Miss (1828) 10 0 0 3 0 0
Ditto (1829) 10 0 0
Ditto (1830) 10 0 0
Ditto (1835) 30 0 0
Ashby, ----, Esq. (1835) 2 0 0
Bedford, Duke of (1829) 21 0 0
Bexley, Lord (1828) 5 0 0
Backhouse, John (1835) 5 7 6
Baker, Rev. Mr. 0 10 0
Bagster and Thoms,
Messrs. (1828) 4 0 0
Barnes, ----, Esq. 1 1 0
Barrett, Jeremiah, Esq. 1 1 0
Barrett, Richard, Esq. 1 1 0
Batson, Robert, Esq. 1 0 0
Bristol Association (1829) 5 0 0
Brixton and Stockwell
Association (1831) 2 2 0
Ditto (1833) 2 2 0
Ditto (1834) 2 2 0
Ditto (1835) 3 3 0
Budworth, Rev. P. 5 5 0
Burlingham, Mrs. (1835) 3 0 0
Ditto (1837) 2 0 0
Butt, Wm. Esq. (1830) 2 0 0
Butlin, ----, Esq. (1835) 0 10 0
Butlin, Mrs. (1835) 0 10 0
Cambridge, C. O. Esq. (1827) 2 0 0
Ditto (1828) 10 10 0
Ditto (1835) 5 0 0
Ditto (1836) 5 0 0
Capper, Jasper, Esq. 1 1 0
Cator, John, Esq. (1828) 5 0 0
Ditto (1831) 2 0 0
Chippendale, J. Esq. 1 1 0
Christian, H. C. Esq. 0 10 0
Clapham Association (1829) 2 0 0
Ditto (1830) 2 0 0
Ditto (1832) 2 0 0
Ditto (1835) 3 0 0
Clarke, T. T. Esq. (1829) 10 10 0 1 1 0
Cockle, Richard, Esq. (1834) 1 1 0 1 1 0
Colfield, Rev. E. W. (1836) 0 10 0
Conquest, Dr. 1 1 0
Cropper, J. and E. (1834) 5 0 0
Dennington, ----, Esq. (1835) 0 10 0
Dewer, D. A. B. Esq. (1829) 5 0 0
Dickenson, John, Esq.
(before 1832) 15 0 0
Domville, Wm. Esq. (1828) 5 0 0
Earl, Rev. J. H. (1832) 1 0 0
Evesham Association (1829) 2 10 0
Farmer, Thomas, Esq. 1 1 0
Fisher, J. S. (1835) 0 10 0
Foster, E. Esq. 1 1 0
Francis, Charles, Esq. 1 1 0
Friends at Uxbridge (1829) 3 0 0
Gillett, G. Esq. 1 1 0
Gillett, W. S. Esq. 1 1 0
Gilpin, Rev. B. (1833) 1 0 0
Goldsmid, J. L. Esq. 1 1 0
Gurney, Samuel, Esq. 2 2 0
Hamilton, Lady Anne (1828) 5 0 0
Hackney Association (1829) 3 3 0
Ditto (1830) 3 3 0
Hancock, Rev. Wm. (1828) 5 5 0
Harris, Mrs. Lydia 1 1 0
Heisch, P. J. Esq. 1 1 0
Henderson, Rev. J. Rawlins
(1830) 10 10 0
Hereford Association (1829) 5 0 0
Hiort, J. W. Esq. (1828) 10 0 0
Holland, Mrs. (1830) 5 0 0
Ditto (1833) 5 0 0
Ditto (1834) 20 0 0 1 0 0
Horton, E. Esq. (1830) 1 1 0
Howard, Robert, Esq. 1 1 0
Howard, Mrs. 1 1 0
Kent, Her Royal Highness
the Duchess of (1832) 20 0 0
Kenah, Col. (1836) 1 1 0
Lyttelton, Lord 2 2 0
Labouchere, John, Esq. (1830) 10 10 0
Legg, Hon. Henry 1 1 0
Lister, J. J. Esq. 1 1 0
Lyon, James, Esq. 1 1 0
Liverpool Association (1835) 5 0 0
Morpeth, Lord (1831) 10 10 0
Mayfield, ----, Esq. (1834) 1 0 0
Marten, Frederick, Esq. 1 0 0
Martin, John, Esq. M.P.
(1828) 5 0 0
Minchin, Samuel, Esq.
(1829) 10 10 0
Morland, Miss 1 1 0
Monro, Rev. R. 0 10 0
Newport Association (1830) 5 0 0
P. A. (before 1828) 10 0 0
John Parkinson, Esq. 0 10 6
Mrs. John Parkinson 0 10 6
Pascal, Miss 0 10 0
Pentonville Association
(1834) 2 2 0
Preston, Miss (1835) 5 0 0
P. E. (1834-35) 2 0 0
Phillips, Miss 1 1 0
Phipps, Mrs. 2 2 0
Platt, Rev. George (1837) 1 0 0
Pownall, Henry, Esq. 1 1 0
Quilter, Rev. Mr. (1835) 5 2 6
Ramsden, R. Esq. (1835) 1 0 0
Richardson, Thomas, Esq.
(1827) 5 0 0
R. H. (1829) 10 0 0
Romilly, Rev. J. 1 1 0
Romilly, Miss 1 1 0
Romilly, Miss Lucy 1 1 0
Sutherland, Duke of (1834) 50 0 0
Surrey, Earl of 1 1 0
Scott, John, Esq. (1829) 10 10 0
Smith, R. Esq. 1 1 0
Southampton Association
(1829) 3 12 6
Stacy, George, Esq. 1 1 0
Steven, Robert, Esq. (1837) 10 10 0 1 1 0
Sutton, Lady (1836) 5 0 0
Tomkins, S. Esq. 1 1 0
Tooke, W. Esq. (1830) 100 0 0
Ditto (1836) 2 0 0
Ditto (1837) 2 0 0
Tottenham Association (1829) 8 0 0
Tritton, E. M. Executors
of (1834) 5 0 0
Westminster, Marquis of 1 1 0
Willoughby de Eresby,
Lord (1828) 5 0 0
Ditto (1829) 50 0 0
Ditto (1830) 40 0 0
Ditto (1831) 40 0 0
Ditto (1834) 20 0 0
Winchester, Lord Bishop
of (1830) 10 0 0 1 1 0
Wager, Tayler, Esq. 1 1 0
Wareham Associatn. (1829) 2 0 0
Wedgewood, Miss (1828) 10 0 0
Ditto 10 0 0
Ditto (1829) 9 2 0
Ditto (1833) 5 5 0
Wedgewood, Josh. Esq. (1834) 10 10 0
Whieldon, Rev. E. (1830) 2 0 0
Wilde, Mrs. 1 1 0
Wilde, E. A. Esq. (1828) 10 10 0
Wolferston, Mrs. 1 1 0
Woods, S. Jun. Esq. (1837) 1 0 0
Young, G. A. Esq. (1834) 3 3 0
Young, Mrs. G. F. (1834) 5 10 0 0 10 0
SOCIETY FOR SUPERSEDING CLIMBING BOYS.
CASH ACCOUNT.
May 1st, 1837.
_Received._ £. _s._ _d._
Balance in favour of the Society,
May 1, 1836 71 16 4
Donations and Subscriptions since
received 102 18 0
One year’s Dividend on Mrs. Denyer’s
Legacy 6 0 0
-------------
£180 14 4
=============
_Paid._ £. _s._ _d._
Advertising, Circulars, Stationery,
Postages, Porterage, &c. 26 2 5
Allowance to Agents 26 0 0
Machinery to ditto 32 15 0
For Printing last Report, &c. 21 17 0
Collector’s Poundage 4 5 5
Expenses at the West-end of the
Town 18 17 6
Expenses attending the different
Experiments to prove the superior
efficiency of the Machine 21 0 0
Balance 29 17 0
-------------
£180 14 4
=============
Balance in favour of the Society 29 17 0
PROPOSED RULES FOR LOCAL ASSOCIATIONS.
I.
That an Association be now formed for the __________ and its vicinity,
for Superseding the Use of Climbing Boys in Cleansing Chimneys.
II.
That the Association be managed by a Committee of Ladies, assisted by
a few Gentlemen: and that all persons subscribing Five Shillings and
upwards, be members of the Association.
III.
That the first object of the Association be, to divide the __________
into Districts, and to circulate as much information on the subject as
possible, in such a manner as the Committee may deem most expedient;
and that Sub-Committees be formed, to carry the measures better into
effect.
IV.
That the Committee endeavour to obtain the consent and signatures of
Housekeepers to have Machines only used in cleansing their Chimneys.
V.
That __________ be appointed the Agent of the Association, and supplied
with the necessary Apparatus; and that employment be sought for the
boys, whose services may be no longer required by their masters.
VI.
That application be made to the London Society, for purchasing such
Machines and other Apparatus as may be deemed requisite by the
Committee, and for any information on the subject.
VII.
That the Committee meet once a month, or oftener, if necessary, and
that Five Members be empowered to act. And that a General Meeting of
the Subscribers be held once annually, on a day to be fixed by the
Committee.
CHIMNEY SWEEPING DESCRIBED.
[Illustration]
A number of flues concentrated, forms a stack of chimneys, as
represented in the engraving. Flues, at a distance from the stack, are
conveyed to it either in a horizontal or sloping form, as at A and G.
The size of flues generally is nine inches by fourteen inches; a space
sufficiently large to convey the smoke, but not large enough to be
ascended, except by little children, for the purpose of cleansing them.
The plan adopted by the climbing-boy to ascend chimneys is, by pressing
his feet, back, and knees against the sides of the flue, by which means
he propels or hitches himself up by degrees, having one arm above his
head, holding a brush, and the other arm by his side, as described in
B. At C the boy is represented as putting his brush out of the top of
the chimney-pot, but generally he rattles it with his brush, to satisfy
the parties below that he has been to the top. This accomplished, he
gradually slides down to the stove or grate.
It has frequently occurred, that boys have, either through fear or
inattention, got into the form of nose and knees together, as described
at E; sometimes they remain in this cramped and painful position for
hours before they are liberated, being totally unable to extricate
themselves.
Climbing-boys are exposed to considerable danger in horizontal or
angular flues, as at A. The reason is obvious; after passing through
the chimney and descending to the second angle from the fire place, the
boy finds it completely filled up with soot, which he has dislodged
from the sides of the upright part. He endeavours to pass by it, and
after much struggling, he succeeds till stopped by his shoulders; but
the soot is compressed so hard all around him, by his exertions, that
he cannot go back; he then endeavours to move forward, but his attempts
in this respect are often useless, for the covering of the horizontal
part of the flue being stone, the sharp angle of it bears hard on his
shoulders, as at H, and prevents him from moving in the least either
one way or the other. His face being covered with a climbing-cap, and
being completely enclosed in the soot beneath, his breath is stopped.
In this dreadful condition he struggles violently to extricate himself,
but his strength fails him, and in a few minutes he is gone for ever.
Many instances have occurred of boys being thus suffocated in chimneys,
or burnt, or smothered in the rubbish, while attempting to core a
chimney; others have been killed by falling from the tops of chimneys.
Such accidents have happened in London, Edinburgh, Dublin, Waterford,
Wakefield, Newport Isle of Wight, Hereford, Preston, Dumfries, Dudley,
Deal, Keighley, Clapham, and Belfast; and many other cases may have
occurred without having come to the knowledge of the public.
[Illustration]
Some persons have an idea that a round brush will not sweep a square
flue, but in the annexed diagram, the diameter of the brush B B is
compared with the chimney A, which clearly shows that the whalebone of
which the brush is composed, is forced into every part of the flue, and
being repeatedly thrust up and down, must sweep it effectually.
A bricklayer might here observe, “Admitting you can sweep chimneys
with the machine, how would you core them?” More effectually and with
greater facility than boys can possibly do it. Chimneys that are
straight, or nearly so, do not require coring, and the rubbish that
falls on the diagonal part of the flue, where the angles are obtuse,
can easily be dislodged by a stiff brush attached to the machine, and
introduced into the top of the chimney. At right angles, or when they
are nearly so, an opening should be left six or nine inches square
at the angle: and when the chimneys are finished, the core can be
extracted in five minutes, which a boy would not be able to accomplish
in several hours or days. It has frequently occurred, that a boy
could not succeed in clearing the chimney of the core, and an opening
has been made for that purpose at last. This plan was adopted with
success at Buckingham Palace, the London University, Post Office, St.
Martin’s-le-grand, and Fishmonger’s Hall. It is altogether unreasonable
to employ boys to core chimneys at the imminent danger of their lives,
when it can be so easily done as described, and at so much less expense.
A builder might remark, “You have explained how you can core chimneys
without a climbing-boy, but how would you place a brick or stop a
crevice in any part of a flue, if required, without a climbing-boy?” On
the first appearance of smoke, I would advise that a carpenter should
remove the board that forms the plinth, and one or two flooring boards,
when the defect would at once be discovered. A bricklayer would soon
make it sound and secure; the boards and plinth might then be replaced,
and all would be safe, and no further annoyance experienced.
A good machine, in the hands of a person who well understands the use
of it, will not meet with one chimney in a thousand that it cannot
effectually sweep. Several persons of this description, who have served
their time as chimney-sweepers, are employed in the use of the machine,
by the Agents of the Society for Superseding Climbing-boys.
N.B. The provisions of the late “Chimney-sweepers Regulation Act” were
entirely against the opinion and advice of the above Society, and
the obnoxious clause, prohibiting chimney-sweepers from calling in
the streets, was inserted at the suggestion of the principal master
chimney-sweepers themselves.
The Society will never be satisfied till the use of climbing-boys is
done away with altogether, being a cruel and unnecessary method.
PRICES OF MACHINERY,
_Manufactured by Joseph Glass, No. 2, Moor-lane, Fore-street_.
Cane Machines, with chimney
cloth complete:--
40 feet in length £3 10 0
50 ditto ditto 4 0 0
60 ditto ditto 4 10 0
70 ditto ditto 5 0 0
80 ditto ditto 5 10 0
Ash or Crab Machines, on the same
principles, with chimney cloth
complete:--
40 feet in length £2 5 0
50 ditto ditto 2 11 0
60 ditto ditto 2 17 0
70 ditto ditto 3 3 0
80 ditto ditto 3 8 0
If a Machine is required partly of Ash, and partly of Cane, the cost
will be in proportion to the number of joints of each used.
N.B. The screws of all the joints of Glass’s Machine are stamped with
his name, to distinguish them from spurious ones.
AGENTS OF THE SOCIETY.
Joseph Glass, 2, Moor-lane, Fore-street, Cripplegate.
Robert Day, 21, Newton-street, High Holborn.
Edward Raven, 64, Lant-street, Borough.
John Shepherd, 19, Kinnerton-street, Wilton-place, Knightsbridge.
The following form is recommended to those who may be disposed to
become Benefactors to this Society by Will:--
“_I give and bequeath unto_ A. B. _and_ C. D. _the sum of __________ to
be raised and paid out of my Personal Estate and Effects upon trust, to
the intent that they, or either of them, do pay the same to the
Treasurer for the time being of a Benevolent Society, which is now
called or commonly known by the name of ‘The Society for Superseding the
necessity of Climbing Boys,’ which sum I desire may be applied to the
purposes of that Society._”
Ten Guineas constitutes a perpetual, and one Guinea an Annual Member.
Subscriptions and Donations are received by the Treasurer, W. Tooke,
Esq., 39, Bedford-row; the Honorary Secretary; Messrs. Hoare,
Fleet-street; Messrs. Williams and Co., Birchin-lane; and by the
Collector, Mr. H. Clemson, No. 7, Grange-road, Bermondsey.
Macintosh, Printer, 20, Great New-street, London.
Transcriber’s Note
In this file, text in _italics_ is indicated by underscores.
Minor printer’s errors have been corrected by the transcriber;
otherwise, as far as possible, original spelling and punctuation have
been retained.
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