QUAKERS AND CHIMNEY SWEEPS By George L. Phillips * AS THE nineteenth century began to creep forward, history A\ reveals the philanthropic activities of the Quakers in denouncing Negro slavery, in demanding prison reforms, in improving the administration of justice, and in pleading for humane working conditions for children in mines and factories. The purpose of this paper is to note the contribution which the Society of Friends made to ameliorate the miserable existence of the climbing-boys in England. In 1806 a Quaker lady named Fairbank1 called the attention of Samuel Roberts to the degrading lot of the little climbingboys of Sheffield. In turn, the humanitarian manufacturer interested several of his fellow townsmen to form a committee to encourage the sweeping of chimneys without the use of climbingboys , turned poet and orator on behalf of the fuliginous urchins, and encouraged James Montgomery to edit The Chimney-Sweeper 's Friend and Climbing-Boy's Album. Montgomery may have had this Quakeress in mind when, in depicting the Easter Monday banquet provided for the climbing-boys by the Sheffield committee , he placed a young climbing-girl "close at a Quaker-lady's side."2 Roberts' Quaker friend, by pointing out the plight of the young Sheffield sweeps, deserved the thanks of all the climbing -boys in England for being instrumental in having the public made conscious of their sufferings. More active than Quakeress Fairbank by engaging directly in the task of aiding the young sweeps were the Alexanders, Ann and William. Ann was the daughter of William and Esther Tuke, and in 1796 she married William Alexander of Needham Market, Suffolk, afterwards of Castlegate, York, where he carried on the business of printer and bookseller for many years. In 1816 Ann Alexander wrote Facts Relative to the State of Children Who Are * The author is American Vice Consul at Geneva, Switzerland. 1 Samuel Roberts, Autobiography and Silent Remains (London, 1849), p. 54. 2 James Montgomery, Poetical Works of James Montgomery (London, 1850), p. 123. 12 QUAKERS AND CHIMNEY SWEEPS13 Employed by Chimney Sweepers, as Climbing Boys; with Observations and Outlines of a Plan for the Amelioration of Their Condition } In this work she confessed that from early life she had felt sorry for the climbing-boys and had rejoiced when through Samuel Roberts' Tales of the Poor "this degraded class of society had become the objects of public attention, particularly in London and Sheffield." 4 However, since the situation of the young sweeps did not seem to have awakened that "general feeling, which their abject state, on investigation, will no doubt appear to demand, the circulation of a small pamphlet, delineating their sufferings, seemed a primary step to pursue, for promoting that amelioration of their condition, which has, for some years, deeply interested the feelings of the writer." 5 With her fellow Quakers in mind she declared, "In all places where the Society of Friends has any influence, it is particularly desirable that they should ascertain , if it is not in their power to excite the attention and feelings of other benevolent characters, to assist them in devising means for mitigating the sorrows of these poor, oppressed children." 6 After the publication of her pamphlet,7 Ann Alexander appears to have ceased writing on behalf of the sooty lads ; but her husband continued her desire to assist the young sweeps by calling attention to their condition and describing the attempts of various philanthropic groups succoring them when he edited Collectitia; or, Pieces, Religious, Moral, and Miscellaneous, Adapted to the Society of Friends, which he and his son published and sold in York.8 In 1827 he was being paid by the London Society for 3 This forty-six page duodecimo pamphlet, published anonymously, was mentioned in Joseph Smith, A Descriptive Catalogue of Friends' Books (London, 1867), I, 7. It was printed for and sold by William Alexander, Castlegate, York, in 1817 and reprinted within the year. 4 Ann Alexander, Facts Relative to the State of Children . . ., Introduction . 5 Ibid. 6 Ibid. 7 The work evoked the wrath of five master chimney-sweeps of Bristol who denounced it in a brochure entitled : An Appeal to the Public by the Master Chimney Sweepers Rending...