Society for Superseding the Necessity of 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 1,200l. 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:—

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:—

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. 7-1/2d. 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.

---

---

		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

---

---

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

---

---

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.

---

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.

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.

---

Manufactured by Joseph Glass, No. 2, Moor-lane, Fore-street.

---

Cane Machines, with chimney cloth complete:—	Ash or Crab Machines, on the same principles, 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	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.

---

• 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.