"“The climbing boys” and the English society in the Industrial age: public pressure and legislative changes"

Abstract

The practice of the climbing boys in the business of sweeping chimneys was spread in England during the Industrial Age (18th - 19th c.). The question of boys’ exploitation is part of the problem of child labour, but it precedes and outlives the overall child exploitation in the factories and mines. This is a sphere where the English society demonstrates conservatism and reluctance to change the attitude to the children of the poor families. The needed legislation was postponed and cost several generations of miserable and deprived boys, losing their health, and often their lives in the chimneys of the rich owners of buildings and mansions. The compassion of some citizens was not enough to convince the lawmakers that the life of children was more valuable than their houses. This was the main topic of the discussions between the lords and the reformers in the Parliament. The struggle for the protection of the climbing boys started in the late 18th c. and is considered successfully finished with the Act of 1875.