348
NOTES AND QUERIES. [12 a. in. JULY, 1917.
chimney sweeper, was presented to the
House of Commons, and read. It set
forth :
" That the petitioner hath exercised his trade twenty-two years, during which period he has ob- served with great anxiety the Hardships and Cruelties which boys placed out to Chimney Sweepers in general undergo, for want of proper Regulations in the said trade ; and that the petitioner communicated the state of the case to the late Jonas Han way, Esq., who attempted to bring forward some plan for correcting such abuses, but which he did not effect (having died within 4 months of having written the aforesaid letter)."
I subjoin a transcript of Jonas Hanway's letter :
THE R T HONHLE THE LORDS COMMISSIONERS OF THE TREASURY.
My Lords,
I have the Honour to represent to your Lord- ships that as far as my humble Fortunes ad- mitted, I have for some Years taken up the Cause of such fellow subjects as appeared to be in the greatest Distress : Among these I have found the Chimney Sweepers climbing Boys, as so dis- tinguished, the most abject of the most miserable Part : Their Wretchedness, however, seemed capable of a certain Degree of Alleviation.
I have accordingly digested the Outlines of a Bill, & accomodated it to the most deliberate suggestions of several very respectable Members of the House of Commons, as your Lordships Secretary, Mr. Rose, can inform you. The Bill, as it now stands, is a pure System of Humanity : No new Officer is appointed ; nor any pecuniary Emolument comprehended in it. I conceived that the Deliverance of these poor Children was near at Hand, when I had the Mortification to learn from Mr. Mainwaring, that the Bill is called a private Bill, and must, if deemed such, pay Fees.
The Masters of these Children do not plead for them ; they have no Parents but such, as are in extreme Poverty ; nor any Advocate but such as common Humanity may call forth.
Under such Circumstances, are not these children intitled to the Protection of their Country ? If as Subjects they have a just Claim to the Defence of Life, and the ordinary Comforts which Labour in every Station presents : If your Lordships are, in this Case, the Representatives or Agents of the supreme Magistrate, I hope your Influence will be employed in their Favour.
Their Case is singular ; for there are no Persons of any Denomination, in these Realms, nor any that I ever heard of, of so tender an Age required to perform so laborious, insalutary and dangerous a Duty ; nor can the darkest Ages of the most uncivilized Manners exhibit such a Scene as they act in.
I ana the more emboldened to make this Appeal to your Lordships, so near the Close of my long Life, as having no Motive except what results from Humanity and Religion ; but I am further invoked by the Remembrance of a similar Trans- action of 1767, in Behalf of the Infant parochial Poor of the Bills of Mortality : Their Births were the Sport of a murderous Custom ; & their Deaths the Ignoming [sic] of our national Policy and Humanity : The Bill obtained for them was
deemed a public Bill ; and it restored the Reign
of Humanity among Parish Officers, in so much
that the King has gained annually, from that
Time, full 1500 subjects.
I must therefore implore your Lordships Attention to the Object of the Chimney Sweepers Climbing Boys, and that you will be pleased to take such Measures in it, as your Wisdom and Humanity shall direct, to obtain that Justice and Mercy which these Children claim of their Country and human Nature.
I am, with the greatest Respect, My Lords,
Your Lordships' most humble & most obedt Servant,
JONAS HANWAY. Red Lion Square, May 9th, 1786.
(Public Record Office, Treasury Board Papers, 630, p. 395.)
An Act to regulate chimney sweeping was passed May 30, 1788 ; and in 1842 it was rendered penal to compel any person under 21 years of age to ascend or descend a chimney or enter a flue for the purpose of cleaning or curing it. No child under 16 could be thereafter apprenticed to the trade. The Act was extended and made more stringent in 1864 and 1875.
But, apparently, the Acts up to 1864 were not enforced in Ireland, for as late as 1873 I remember in Dublin seeing the little fellows walking with their " boss " (as he was called), with a big stick, and often heard their small voice up the chimney when it was being cleaned.
These children were usually without parents, and generally obtained from the workhouse. Before ascending, they were obliged to strip, and a large sheet was spread to catch the soot. They were furnished with a small triangular scraper, with a short handle, wherewith to scrape the chimneys.
In the last Act (1875) the enforcement of the previous ones was entrusted to the police, and Ireland is specially mentioned, the Lord Lieutenant being given " power and authority under this Act," so probably at that date the practice of using the boys was more or less discontinued.
In the country a goose was employed for the same purpose, the wings performing the necessary work ! A lady now on the staff of the National Library of Ireland has been a witness of this performance, and has seen the goose afterwards ! She also stated that it is still, she believes, a fairly common practice in the country in cottages, where, however, the chimney is much wider than in ordinary town houses. In the absence of chimney sweeps, they have hardly any other
wa y- E. H. FAIEBKOTHEB.
