Child Labour

  • 1840: Parliament acts to end the use of climbing boys

    On 7 August 1840, the Chimney Sweepers and Chimneys Regulation Act became law. Parliament intended to stop children being used as climbing chimney sweeps, but the practice continued. Children had been sent inside chimneys for generations. Their size allowed them to climb narrow flues that adults could not enter. Some were apprenticed to master sweeps,…