Despite the invention in the early nineteenth century of a machine to clean chimneys, master sweeps still sent little boys up flues. The talk will explain the involvement of the Guardians of the Workhouses, and the long battle by lawmakers to stop this cruel practice. Dickens, Kingsley and Blake wrote about the exploitation of children, trying to bring it to the attention of the public. The talk will give case studies of 3 children, including one of Lesley’s ancestors, who was a ‘climbing boy’.

 

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