Powerless children were made apprentice chimney sweeps from 1773 master chimney sweeps regularly kept anywhere from 2 to 20 children depending on how many they could use for their business.
Chimney sweep child labour industrial revolution.
For each child the master sweep was paid 3 4 pounds by the government when the apprenticeship agreement was signed.
The chimney sweeps act 1834 was enacted in an attempt to protect the children employed by the sweeping masters from cruel exploitation.
During the industrial revolution particularly moving into the 19th century and the victorian era child labour wasn t uncommon.
The prominence of using small children as chimney sweeps began after the great fire of london which occurred september 2nd through 5th 1666.
Children were widely used as human chimney sweeps in england for about 200 years and the lives of these little ones who were forced to climb chimneys were the stuff of nightmares.
In the modern day our view of chimney sweeps has undoubtedly been influenced and affected by portrayals in popular media.
As a chimney sweep permanently blackened with layers of soot to provide some protection against the fire and heat of chimneys hudson was among the most visible of child labourers.