Chimney sweep

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A chimney sweeper in 1850.


In the United Kingdom, the master sweeps took apprentices, who were boys from the workhouse or bought them from their parents and trained them to climb chimneys. In the German States, master sweeps belonged to trade guilds[1] and did not use climbing boys. In Italy, Belgium, and France climbing boys were used.


A master chimney sweep and his apprentice boy respectively Spazzacamino in Italy (end of the 19th century).


Buildings were higher and the new chimneys tops were grouped together[2] and the routes of flues from individual grates could involve two or more right angles and horizontal angled and vertical sections, The flues were made narrow to create a better draught- 14in by 9in being a common standard. Buckingham Palace had one flue with 15 angles, with the flue narrowing to 9in by 9in.[3] Chimney sweeping was also one of the more commonly difficult, hazardous, and low-paying occupations of the era, and consequently has been derided in verse, ballad and pantomime.

The first mechanical sweeping machine was invented by George Smart in 1803 but was resisted in the UK and the US. John Glass marketed an improved sweeping machine in 1828; he is credited with being the inventor of the modern chimney sweep's brush.[4] In the US Northern States, whites gave up the trade and employed black sweep-boys from the South.[5] After regulation finally took hold in 1875 in the UK and the turn of the century in the US, the occupation became romanticized in popular media and literature.

United Kingdom[edit]

This show a cross section of two chimneys with an internal diameter of about twenty eight centimetres in each is a climbing boy of about ten years old. To the left the boy is climbing by bracing his back and knees against the chimney. To the right the boy is 'stuck', his knees are wedged up against his chin, and calfs, thighs and torso block the chimney preventing him from moving up or down.
A boy climbing to the left;
A boy 'stuck' to the right.

Boys as young as four climbed hot flues that could be as narrow as 81 inches square (9x9 inches or 23x23 cm). Work was dangerous and they could get jammed in the flue, suffocate or burn to death. As the soot was a carcinogen, and as the boys slept under the soot sacks and were rarely washed, they were prone to Chimney Sweeps Cancer. From 1775 onwards there was increasing concern for the welfare of the boys, and Acts of Parliament were passed to restrict, and in 1875 to stop this usage.[6] Lord Shaftesbury, the philanthropist, led the later campaign. Chimneys started to appear in Britain around 1200, when they replaced the open fire burning in the middle of the one room house. At first there would be one heated room in the building and chimneys would be large. Over the next four hundred years, rooms became specialized and smaller and many were heated. Sea coal started to replace wood, and it deposited a layer of flammable creosote in the inside surface of the flue, and caked it with soot. Whereas before, the chimney was a vent for the smoke, now the plume of hot gas was used to suck air into the fire, and this required narrower flues[7] Even so, boys rarely climbed chimneys before the Great Fire of London, when building regulations were put in place and the design of chimneys was altered, The new chimneys were often angular and narrow, and the usual dimension of the flue in domestic properties was 9 inches (23 cm) by 14 inches (36 cm). The master sweep was unable to climb into such small spaces himself and employed climbing boys to go up the chimneys to dislodge the soot. The boys often 'buffed it', that is, climbed in the nude,[8] propelling themselves by their knees and elbows which were scraped raw. They were often put up hot chimneys, and sometimes up chimneys that were alight in order to extinguish the fire. Chimneys with sharp angles posed a particular hazard.[9] These boys were apprenticed to the sweep, and from 1778 until 1875 a series of laws attempted to regulate their working conditions, and many first hand accounts were documented and published in parliamentary reports. From about 1803, there was an alternative method of brushing chimneys, but sweeps and their clients resisted the change preferring climbing boys to the new Humane Sweeping Machines.[10] Compulsory education was established in 1870 by the Education Act 1870 but it was a further five years before legislation was put in place to license Chimney Sweeps and finally prevent boys being sent up chimneys.[11]

Climbing boys[edit]

Cross-section of a seven flue stack in a four storey house with cellars. An 1834 illustration from Mechanics' Magazine, designed to show the contrast between mechanical sweeping and children sweeping chimneys.
* A- is a hearth served by vertical flue, a horizontal flue, and then a vertical rise having two right-angled bends that were difficult for brushes.
* B- is a long straight flue (14in by 9in) being climbed by a boy using back elbows and knees.
* C- is a short flue from a second floor hearth. The climbing boy has reached the chimney pot, which has a diameter too small for him to exit that way.
* E- shows a disaster. The climbing boy is stuck in the flue, his knees jammed against his chin.
* G- How a flue could be straightened to make it sweepable by mechanical means
* H- A dead climbing boy, suffocated in a fall of soot that accumulated at the cant of the flue.


It was generally agreed that six was a good age to train a boy.[16] Though Lord Shaftesbury once encountered one of the age of four, they were considered to be too weak.[16] A master sweep would have many apprentices, they would start the morning by roaming the streets calling out "Soot -Oh, Sweep" or another cry to let the house-owners know they were around - this would remind the owners of the dangers of un-swept chimneys. When engaged, the master sweep would fix a cloth over the fireplace, and the climbing boy would take off his boots and any excess clothes, then get behind it. The flue would be as tall as the house and twist several times, and its dimensions would be 14in by 9in. He would pull his cap down over his face and hold a large flat brush over his head, and wedge his body diagonally in the flue.[17] Using his back, elbows and knees, he would shimmy up the flue in the manner of a caterpillar[16] and use the brush to dislodge loose soot, which would fall over him and down to the bottom, and a scraper to chip away the solid bits, as a smooth chimney was a safe chimney. Having reached the top he would slide back down at speed back to the floor and the soot pile. It was now his job to bag up the soot and carry it back to the master sweep's cart or yard.

Soot was valuable and could be sold for 9d a bushel in 1840.[18] An apprentice would do four or five chimneys a day. When they first started they scraped their knees and elbows, so the master would harden up their skin by standing them close to a hot fire and rubbing in strong brine using a brush. This was done each evening until the skin hardened.[16] The boys got no wages but lived with the master who fed them. They slept together on the floor or in the cellar under the sacks and the cloth used during the day to catch the soot. This was known as "sleeping black".[17] The boy would be washed by the mistress in a tub in the yard, this may happen as often as once a week, but rarely did. One sweep used to wash down his boys in the Serpentine.[19] Another Nottingham sweep insisted they washed three times a year, for Christmas, Whitsun and the Goose Fair. Sometimes, a boy would need to be persuaded to climb faster or higher up the chimney, and the master sweep would either light a small fire of straw or a brimstone candle, to encourage him to try harder. Another method which also helped stop them from "going off" was to send another boy up behind him to prick pins into the soles of his feet or buttocks.[20]

Chimneys varied in size. The common flue was designed to be one and a half bricks long by one brick wide, though the often narrowed to one brick square, that is 9 inches (230 mm) by 9 inches (230 mm) or less.[21] Often the chimney would still be hot from the fire, occasionally it would actually be on fire.[15][22] Careless climbing boys could get stuck with their knees jammed against their chins. The harder they struggled the tighter they became wedged. They could remain in this position for many hours until they were pushed out from below or pulled out with a rope. If their struggling caused a fall of soot they would suffocate. Dead or alive the boy had to be removed and this would be done by removing bricks from the side of the chimney.[23] If the chimney was particularly narrow the boys would be told to "buff it", that is to do it naked,[24] otherwise they just wore trousers, and a shirt made from thick rough cotton cloth.

Health and safety concerns[edit]



These however were not the only occupational hazards that chimney sweeps suffered. In the 1817 report to Parliament witnesses reported that climbing boys suffered from general neglect, In addition they exhibited stunted growth and deformity of the spine, legs and arms, that, in the 1810s, were put down to being required to remain in abnormal positions for long periods of time before their bones had hardened. The knees and ankle joints were the most affected. Sores and inflammation of the eyelids that could lead to loss of sight, were slow in healing because the boy kept rubbing them. Bruises and burns were obvious hazards of having to work in an overheated environment. Cancer of the scrotum was found only in Chimney sweeps so was referred to as Chimney Sweep Cancer in the teaching hospitals. Asthma and inflammation of the chest was attributed to the fact that the boys were out in all weathers,[26]


It is a disease which always makes it first attack on the inferior part of the scrotum where it produces a superficial, painful ragged ill-looking sore with hard rising edges…in no great length of time it pervades the skin, dartos and the membranes of the scrotum, and seizes the testicle, which it inlarges [sic], hardens and renders truly and thoroughly distempered. Whence it makes its way up the spermatic process into the abdomen.

He also comments on the life of the boys:

The fate of these people seems peculiarly hard…they are treated with great brutality…they are thrust up narrow and sometimes hot chimnies,(sic) where they are bruised burned and almost suffocated; and when they get to puberty they become…liable to a most noisome, painful and fatal disease.

The carcinogen was thought to be coal tar possibly containing some arsenic.[25][27]



Chimney sweeper


In the same year, David Porter, a humane master sweep, sent a petition to Parliament, and in 1792 published Considerations of the Present State of Chimney Sweepers with some Observations on the Act of Parliament intended for their Relief and Regulation. Though concerned for the boys' welfare he believed that boys were more efficient than any of the new mechanical cleaning machines. In 1796 a society was formed for Bettering the Conditions of the Poor, and they encouraged the reading of Hanway's and Porter's tracts. They had influential members and royal patronage from George III.[31] A Friendly Society for the Protection and Education of Chimney-Sweepers' Boys had been established in 1800.[32]




The Chimney Sweepers and Chimneys Regulation Act 1840 made it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to sweep chimneys. It was widely ignored. Attempts were made in 1852 and 1853 to reopen the issue, another enquiry was convened and more evidence was taken. There was no bill. The Chimney Sweepers Regulation Act 1864, c37. tightened controls significantly, by authorizing fines and imprisonment for master sweeps who were ignoring the law, giving the police the power of arrest on suspicion and authorizing Board of Trade inspections of new and remodelled chimneys. Lord Shaftesbury was a main proponent of the Bill.


A Chimney Sweepers Act was passed in 1875 that required chimney sweepers to be authorized by the police to carry on their businesses in the district, thus providing the legal means to enforce all previous legislation.[29]

United States[edit]

A studio portrait of four Afro-American climbing boys from New York, with brushes and scrapers, Two are standing and two are kneeling. They look between eleven and fourteen years old, wear rough clothes and battered hats and caps.
A studio portrait of four New York climbing boys, with brushes and scrapers

The history of sweeping in the United States varies little from that in the United Kingdom. Differences arise from the nature of housing and the political pressures. Early settler houses were built close together out of wood, so when one burnt it spread quickly to neighbouring properties. This caused the authorities to regulate the design of flues. From an early date, fire wardens and inspectors were appointed.

Sweeping of the wide flues of these low buildings was often done by the householder himself, using a ladder to pass a wide brush down the chimney. In a narrow flue, a bag of bricks and brushwood would be dropped down the chimney. But in longer flues climbing boys were used, complete with the UK tradition of coercion and persuasion using burning straw and pins in the feet and the buttocks.[5] Sweeping was not a popular trade. During the eighteenth century the employment of Negro men and boys spread from the south to the north. Negro sweeps were not popular, and were thought to be inefficient and their shoddy work responsible for many fires. It was claimed that there were fewer fires in London where chimneys were swept by white boys than in New York. As in the UK, Smart's sweeping machine was available in the US shortly after 1803, but few were used. Unlike the UK, there were no societies formed to advocate the climbing boys' lot. The one novel produced in the states in 1854, championed the cause of 'Tit', a London climbing boy, contrasting his fate with the good conditions experienced by a Negro slave, 'Tat'. Descriptions gleaned of the boys' working conditions differ in one respect: the masters hired the sweep boys "from their owners".[37]

Sweeps festivals[edit]

The London boys had one day's holiday a year, the first of May, (Mayday) International Labour Day. They celebrated by parading through the streets, dancing and twisting with Jack in the Green, merging several folk traditions.[38] There is also a Sweeps Festival in Santa Maria Maggiore,[39] in Italy and in Rochester in Kent[40] where the tradition was revived in 1980.

Good luck omen[edit]

  • In Great Britain it is considered lucky for a bride to see a chimney sweep on her wedding day. Many modern British sweeps hire themselves out to attend weddings in pursuance of this tradition.[41][42]
  • As a Lucky symbol, depictions of chimney sweeps are a popular New Year's gift in Germany; either as small ornaments attached to flower bouquets or candy, e.g. marzipan chimney sweeps.[43] Their traditional uniform is an all black suit with golden jacket buttons and a black tophat.


Chimney sweeps were often depicted in Victorian literature as heartless scoundrels who abused their child workers. They are typified in The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley. The English poet William Blake portrayed the chimney sweep as an abused child who hoped for a better life. In both "Songs of Innocence" and "Songs of Experience", Blake showcases the life of a common sweeper and exposes those who allowed barbaric actions against them to take place. In Charles Dickens's Oliver Twist a particularly vicious chimney sweep called Gamfield wants to take Oliver as an apprentice, but at the last minute the magistrate refuses to sanction the move ("Mr Gamfield did happen to labour under the slight imputation of having bruised three or four boys to death already." )[44]

In "The Shepherdess and the Sweep" (1845), a fairy tale by the Danish poet and writer Hans Christian Andersen, a porcelain chimney sweep sits upon a table top near his love, a porcelain shepherdess. When the two are threatened, the chimney sweep gallantly conducts his love safely to the rooftop through the stove pipe.[45]

In Michael Crichton's novel The Great Train Robbery, Clean Willy Williams was an accessory to the gold heist. An apprentice chimney sweep who later became a "snakesman" (a burglar adept at climbing and wriggling through small spaces), he uses his skills to escape from Newgate Prison and to gain access to the railway office where important keys are stored.

With the development of the newer brush system and the end of child labour, the occupation changed its image to one of agile and good natured men, the chief example being in the book series Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film adaptation which has an extended dance sequence in which the jovial workers celebrate the end of the workday with fearless acrobatics. Their leader, "Bert", played by Dick van Dyke, sings "Chim Chim Cher-ee" which won the Oscar for "Best Song" in 1965. The chorus refers to the traditional association of chimney sweeps with good luck: "Good luck will rub off when I shake 'ands with you, or blow me a kiss ... and that's lucky too".

The novel Die schwarzen Brüder ("The Black Brothers"), written in 1941 in Switzerland by the Jewish author Kurt Held but published under the name of his wife Lisa Tetzner, depicts the life of climbing boys, so-called Spazzacamini, originating from Valle Verzasca in Switzerland, in northern Italy in the 19th century. It has been recreated in manga as Romeo's Blue Skies.

Barbara Vine's novel The Chimney Sweeper's Boy has as a central plot device a moth of that name, more formally identified as Epichnopterix plumella, which represents the main character's transformation and identity.


 A caucasian man of about forty stands on the ridge of a modern house next to a red brick chimney. He is in jeans and a polo shirt and wears leather safety gloves.On his back is a standard chimney sweeping brush and poles.
Modern chimney sweep



In the US, the two trade organizations that help to regulate the industry are the Chimney Safety Institute of America and The National Chimney Sweep Guild. Certification for chimney sweeps are issued by two organizations: Certified Chimney Professionals and The Chimney Safety Institute of America, which was first to establish certification and requires sweeps to re-test every three years or demonstrate the commitment to education by earning CEUs through CSIA or the National Fireplace Institute to bypass the test. Certification for chimney sweeps who reline chimneys are issued by Certified Chimney Professionals.

In the UK, there are five trade associations:- Chimney Sweep Academy, Guild of Master Chimneysweeps, Association of Professional Independent Chimney Sweeps, Institute of Chimney Sweeps and National Association of Chimney Sweeps

See also[edit]


  1. ^ Strange 1982, p. 40
  2. ^ Strange 1982, p. 7
  3. ^ Strange 1982, p. 64
  4. ^ Strange 1982, p. xiii
  5. ^ a b Strange 1982, p. 90
  6. ^ Strange 1982, p. 80
  7. ^ Strange 1982, pp. 5–6
  8. ^ Strange 1982, p. 30
  9. ^ Waldron 1983, p. 390
  10. ^ Strange 1982, pp. 46–47
  11. ^ Strange 1982, p. xiv
  12. ^ Mayhew 1861, p. 347
  13. ^ Strange 1982, p. 19
  14. ^ Strange 1982, p. 12
  15. ^ a b Strange 1982, p. 21
  16. ^ a b c d Strange 1982, p. 14
  17. ^ a b Strange 1982, p. 18
  18. ^ Mayhew 1861, p. 353
  19. ^ Strange 1982, pp. 71,72
  20. ^ Strange 1982, p. 13
  21. ^ Strange 1982, p. 16
  22. ^ Strange 1982, p. 27
  23. ^ Strange 1982, p. 26
  24. ^ Strange 1982, p. 71
  25. ^ a b Waldron 1983, p. 391
  26. ^ Mayhew 1861, p. 350
  27. ^ Schwartz, Robert A. (2008). Skin Cancer: Recognition and Management (3 ed.). Wiley. p. 55. ISBN 978-0-470-69563-0. Retrieved 2011-05-02. 
  28. ^ Mayhew 1861, p. 351
  29. ^ a b "Key dates in Working Conditions, Factory Acts (Great Britain 1300 - 1899)". Retrieved 19 March 2012. 
  30. ^ Strange 1982, p. 37
  31. ^ a b Strange 1982, p. 43
  32. ^ (The Times 16 April 1800, Page 1, Column b.)
  33. ^ Strange 1982, p. 44
  34. ^ Strange 1982, p. 65
  35. ^ The Story of a Mental Hospital:Fulbourn, 1858-1983, David H. Clark
  36. ^ Strange 1982, p. 31
  37. ^ Strange 1982, p. 93
  38. ^ Mayhew 1861, p. 370
  39. ^ Museo Spazzacamino
  40. ^ Rochester Sweeps Festival
  41. ^ UK Chimney Sweepers
  42. ^
  43. ^ File:German new year's gift, four leaf clovers with chimney sweep ornament.jpeg
  44. ^ Strange 1982, pp. 119–122
  45. ^ Strange 1982, p. 132

External links[edit]

Modern Trade associations

United States:

United Kingdom: