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Chimney sweep in the 1850s

A chimney sweep, or a climbing boy, is a person who cleans chimneys for a living. They are also referred to as chimney service technicians. The occupation of chimney sweep is considered to be one of the oldest in the world, as chimneys have been around since ancient times, though it is only in the last two hundred years that the chimney has grown large enough to hold a man, giving rise to the image of the chimney sweep as it developed in the time of the Industrial Revolution. In the fifteenth and sixteenth centuries in Western Europe, construction of rooflines with crow-stepped gables became common to allow chimney sweeps convenient access to the chimney top. With the increased urban population, the number of houses with chimneys grew in pace and the occupation of chimney sweep became much respected and sought-after, although it is sometimes derided in verse, ballad and pantomime.

In Victorian Age Britain, the business became notorious for employing young boys as they were small enough to enter the chimneys and clean them from inside. The work was dirty and dangerous, and their employers were notorious for abusing and exploiting them.

The boys also suffered from deformed joints, burns, and a form of testicular cancer caused by the carcinogenic chemicals in the soot. It was known for chimney sweeps to choke to death by inhaling soot. In 1840 a law was passed making it illegal for anyone under the age of 21 to sweep chimneys.

Eventually, the public outcry against the practice led to a search for a substitute and the invention of a special brush with a telescoping handle and other more subtle innovations that allowed a sweep to reach right up the chimney without the need to enter it. In the mid twentieth century, the invention of a vacuum suction device that could be attached over the fireplace made the process cleaner than ever.

Modern chimney sweep

With the rise of central heating systems and the decline in the use of chimneys, the sweep profession became less prevalent, though the service continues in most communities on a small scale.

Chimney sweeps were often depicted in Victorian literature as heartless, abusive scoundrels, typified in the book The Water Babies by Charles Kingsley.

The English poet William Blake portrayed the chimney sweep as an abused child who hoped for a better life. In both Songs of Innocence and Songs of Experience, Blake offers poems that both showcase the life of a common sweeper and expose those who allowed barbaric actions against them to take place.

In Oliver Twist a particularly vicious chimney sweep called Gamfield wants to take Oliver as an apprentice, but at the last minute the magistrate refuses to sanction the move ("Mr Gamfield did happen to labour under the slight imputation of having bruised three or four boys to death already." )

There was an episode of the animated cartoon Inspector Gadget in which Gadget is transported back in time to IR London and becomes friends with a family whose kids earn their living as chimney sweeps.

However, with the development of newer brush equipment and the end of child labor, the profession changed its image to one of agile and good natured men, the chief example being in the book series Mary Poppins by P.L. Travers and the Walt Disney film adaptation which has an extended dance sequence in which the jovial workers celebrate the end of the workday with fearless acrobatic dance.

In parts of Great Britain it is considered lucky for a bride to see a chimney sweep on her wedding day. Many modern British sweeps hire themselves out to attend weddings in pursuance of this tradition. It is also considered good luck to shake hands with a chimney sweep or to be blown a kiss by one.