1
00:00:00,537 --> 00:00:02,141
They blamed high wages.

2
00:00:03,005 --> 00:00:05,035
With one in ten men away fighting

3
00:00:05,426 --> 00:00:07,278
able adult workers came at a premium

4
00:00:07,785 --> 00:00:09,306
and cut into profits.

5
00:00:10,335 --> 00:00:12,177
Pit's advice was short and simple

6
00:00:12,876 --> 00:00:14,344
He was supposed to have told them,

7
00:00:14,982 --> 00:00:16,394
Yoke up the children.

8
00:00:37,594 --> 00:00:39,439
Luckily for Pit and for Great Britain

9
00:00:39,545 --> 00:00:41,080
and PLC for the first time in it's history

10
00:00:41,301 --> 00:00:43,224
the country was awash with children.

11
00:00:44,044 --> 00:00:46,343
In the mid 1700s the population of Britain

12
00:00:46,675 --> 00:00:48,720
was small and stationary around 5.7 million.

13
00:00:50,146 --> 00:00:52,308
But by the end of the century it had shot up

14
00:00:52,484 --> 00:00:53,924
by more than 50 percent.

15
00:00:54,092 --> 00:00:55,291
to 8.7 million.

16
00:00:55,921 --> 00:00:57,556
So what changed?

17
00:00:58,060 --> 00:00:59,757
The answer's in here.

18
00:01:05,509 --> 00:01:07,923
This is Sir Michael's in Shropshire

19
00:01:08,176 --> 00:01:09,893
built by that great man of

20
00:01:10,045 --> 00:01:11,104
the industrial age,

21
00:01:11,304 --> 00:01:13,643
Thomas Telford in 1796.

22
00:01:16,675 --> 00:01:18,080
There's been a church on this site

23
00:01:18,127 --> 00:01:19,263
since Norman times.

24
00:01:19,526 --> 00:01:21,251
The marriage registers are long.

25
00:01:21,671 --> 00:01:22,959
And very well maintained.

26
00:01:26,392 --> 00:01:28,542
Ah now these are beautiful records.

27
00:01:29,509 --> 00:01:30,724
You can see here somebody's

28
00:01:30,923 --> 00:01:32,306
not been able to sign their name,

29
00:01:32,535 --> 00:01:33,526
so they put their mark.

30
00:01:34,003 --> 00:01:35,334
And elsewhere they struggle to

31
00:01:35,402 --> 00:01:36,443
write their signatures.

32
00:01:37,951 --> 00:01:40,047
Now study of these and other records

33
00:01:40,698 --> 00:01:42,387
have shown that as the 18th century

34
00:01:42,502 --> 00:01:44,033
progressed more people

35
00:01:44,110 --> 00:01:45,055
were marrying younger.

36
00:01:45,594 --> 00:01:46,975
Now why was that?

37
00:01:48,375 --> 00:01:49,802
Previously men and women were

38
00:01:49,927 --> 00:01:51,142
employed to work the land

39
00:01:51,373 --> 00:01:52,641
and lived in with their employer,

40
00:01:53,095 --> 00:01:54,053
usually a farmer,

41
00:01:54,300 --> 00:01:55,358
or a big local land owner.

42
00:01:56,175 --> 00:01:57,301
These men liked to keep their

43
00:01:57,503 --> 00:01:58,625
young employees single,

44
00:01:58,882 --> 00:01:59,891
because married employees

45
00:01:59,891 --> 00:02:00,557
had children

46
00:02:00,774 --> 00:02:02,045
and were more of a burden.

47
00:02:02,727 --> 00:02:04,475
But advances in farming practice

48
00:02:04,721 --> 00:02:05,809
meant less people were needed

49
00:02:05,924 --> 00:02:06,935
to grow food.

50
00:02:07,211 --> 00:02:08,604
So fewer people lived in

51
00:02:08,705 --> 00:02:10,637
and more were kicked out.

52
00:02:11,298 --> 00:02:12,475
Of course that meant that

53
00:02:12,590 --> 00:02:13,600
there was no master to

54
00:02:13,843 --> 00:02:15,031
ask for permission to wed.

55
00:02:16,338 --> 00:02:18,305
These liberated workers began traveling

56
00:02:18,344 --> 00:02:20,349
earning their wages in new industries.

57
00:02:20,870 --> 00:02:22,226
The pay wasn't great,

58
00:02:22,510 --> 00:02:24,224
but it wasn't based on the sliding

59
00:02:24,338 --> 00:02:25,344
scales of farmwork.

60
00:02:25,879 --> 00:02:26,828
They reached their peak

61
00:02:26,970 --> 00:02:28,643
potential earnings at younger ages

62
00:02:28,877 --> 00:02:30,141
and so attempted to marry

63
00:02:30,313 --> 00:02:31,469
and start families sooner.

64
00:02:33,262 --> 00:02:34,718
Women with jobs found their earnings

65
00:02:34,787 --> 00:02:36,224
could shore up new families,

66
00:02:36,559 --> 00:02:37,997
adding again to the temptation.

67
00:02:38,176 --> 00:02:39,223
to marry younger.

68
00:02:40,033 --> 00:02:41,043
As for those women who

69
00:02:41,058 --> 00:02:42,157
couldn't find work,

70
00:02:42,673 --> 00:02:44,057
well they were eager to marry young

71
00:02:44,237 --> 00:02:45,553
and gain financial protection.

72
00:02:47,391 --> 00:02:49,536
The result in the early 1700s

73
00:02:49,589 --> 00:02:51,142
the average age of British brides

74
00:02:51,215 --> 00:02:52,641
had been nearly 27.

75
00:02:53,312 --> 00:02:56,178
By 1800 it had fallen to 23 and a half.

76
00:02:56,916 --> 00:02:58,673
Those 3 additional years of married life

77
00:02:58,875 --> 00:02:59,887
were crucial.

78
00:03:00,450 --> 00:03:01,757
Girls were at their most fertile

79
00:03:02,456 --> 00:03:04,683
and could produce 2 additional babies.

80
00:03:04,951 --> 00:03:07,526
[babies crying]

81
00:03:12,174 --> 00:03:13,808
So at the very moment that Britain

82
00:03:13,951 --> 00:03:15,470
was prepared to take the giant

83
00:03:15,508 --> 00:03:17,830
technological leap into the machine age,

84
00:03:18,406 --> 00:03:20,833
it had it's largest, youngest population.

85
00:03:22,009 --> 00:03:23,675
And it was a mobile population.

86
00:03:24,038 --> 00:03:25,548
able to adapt to change.

87
00:03:26,451 --> 00:03:28,387
Every thing was tailored towards

88
00:03:28,479 --> 00:03:30,639
delivering the industrial future.

89
00:03:35,003 --> 00:03:36,290
But that industrial future

90
00:03:36,426 --> 00:03:38,140
needed feeding.

91
00:03:38,959 --> 00:03:41,330
Children played a role in that too.

92
00:03:42,843 --> 00:03:43,766
We tend to think of children

93
00:03:43,766 --> 00:03:45,173
from this time as working

94
00:03:45,257 --> 00:03:46,468
in mines and factories.

95
00:03:47,123 --> 00:03:48,060
But in fact,

96
00:03:48,258 --> 00:03:49,638
child labor was ubiquitous.

97
00:03:50,342 --> 00:03:51,667
Almost every work place

98
00:03:51,928 --> 00:03:52,933
would have had children in it.

99
00:03:53,509 --> 00:03:54,998
And the biggest employer

100
00:03:55,261 --> 00:03:56,845
was actually agriculture.

101
00:03:58,932 --> 00:04:00,102
Agriculture accounted for about

102
00:04:00,283 --> 00:04:01,941
a third of children's jobs.

103
00:04:02,674 --> 00:04:04,618
Often on small setups like this one.

104
00:04:05,786 --> 00:04:06,971
This farm was attached to the

105
00:04:07,086 --> 00:04:07,917
local rectory

106
00:04:08,313 --> 00:04:09,441
and worked by a small team

107
00:04:09,604 --> 00:04:10,867
including boys and girls.

108
00:04:14,714 --> 00:04:16,266
[cows moo]

109
00:04:20,795 --> 00:04:22,032
Of course agriculture is one

110
00:04:22,032 --> 00:04:23,385
area where we still see

111
00:04:23,408 --> 00:04:24,639
children working today.

112
00:04:25,092 --> 00:04:26,639
Ushered into the life of the farm

113
00:04:26,809 --> 00:04:28,802
under the watchful eye of their parents.

114
00:04:31,922 --> 00:04:33,558
The children of the industrial revolution

115
00:04:33,750 --> 00:04:35,046
rarely enjoyed such a

116
00:04:35,046 --> 00:04:36,351
gentle introduction.

117
00:04:37,220 --> 00:04:38,470
Unlike the factory apprentices,

118
00:04:38,789 --> 00:04:40,946
child farm workers were often

119
00:04:41,259 --> 00:04:42,351
the only children employed

120
00:04:42,657 --> 00:04:43,795
on an establishment.

121
00:04:44,510 --> 00:04:45,852
And they were also housed with

122
00:04:46,009 --> 00:04:47,029
their master or another

123
00:04:47,152 --> 00:04:48,306
adult worker.

124
00:04:48,629 --> 00:04:49,505
And there was no one looking

125
00:04:49,505 --> 00:04:50,822
over the shoulders of these

126
00:04:50,822 --> 00:04:51,913
men to see how they were

127
00:04:51,913 --> 00:04:53,761
treating their child employees.

128
00:04:54,306 --> 00:04:55,721
As a result these children

129
00:04:55,836 --> 00:04:56,953
were often more vulnerable

130
00:04:57,427 --> 00:04:58,424
than the children who worked

131
00:04:58,424 --> 00:04:59,414
in factories.

132
00:05:04,869 --> 00:05:05,888
For example,

133
00:05:06,135 --> 00:05:07,940
men's reminisces tiptoe around

134
00:05:08,009 --> 00:05:10,062
the topic of child's sexual abuse

135
00:05:10,677 --> 00:05:12,250
but in the testimonies I've read,

136
00:05:12,441 --> 00:05:14,175
there are 2 cases where boys were

137
00:05:14,256 --> 00:05:15,346
probably molested.

138
00:05:15,822 --> 00:05:18,016
And both involved lonely little farm

139
00:05:18,217 --> 00:05:20,003
workers consigned to the care

140
00:05:20,003 --> 00:05:21,556
of other adults,

141
00:05:21,952 --> 00:05:23,140
far from the protection

142
00:05:23,341 --> 00:05:24,722
of friends and family.

143
00:05:32,838 --> 00:05:34,139
Just like the heavy industries

144
00:05:34,259 --> 00:05:35,390
agriculture had a job for

145
00:05:35,574 --> 00:05:36,672
every age group.

146
00:05:37,235 --> 00:05:38,677
And the entry level into farm

147
00:05:38,811 --> 00:05:40,181
work began at 6 years old,

148
00:05:40,703 --> 00:05:42,144
when children could be employed

149
00:05:42,426 --> 00:05:43,917
as human scarecrows.

150
00:05:51,842 --> 00:05:53,140
When I was 6 and 2 months old,

151
00:05:53,424 --> 00:05:54,519
I was sent off to work

152
00:05:55,224 --> 00:05:56,805
I do not think I shall ever forget

153
00:05:56,844 --> 00:05:58,186
those long hungry days

154
00:05:58,186 --> 00:05:59,700
in the fields scaring crows.

155
00:06:01,508 --> 00:06:02,807
You can imagine the feeling

156
00:06:02,921 --> 00:06:03,808
of loneliness.

157
00:06:05,757 --> 00:06:07,367
Hours and hours passed without

158
00:06:07,367 --> 00:06:08,849
a living creature coming near.

159
00:06:09,509 --> 00:06:10,543
I cried most of the time.

160
00:06:11,837 --> 00:06:13,802
And in desperation I would shout

161
00:06:13,869 --> 00:06:14,919
as loud as I could.

162
00:06:15,237 --> 00:06:17,613
Mother, mother, mother!

163
00:06:17,980 --> 00:06:19,345
But mother could not hear.

164
00:06:20,322 --> 00:06:21,926
She was working in the hay fields

165
00:06:21,949 --> 00:06:22,971
who knows where.

166
00:06:25,836 --> 00:06:26,893
By my 7th birthday

167
00:06:26,921 --> 00:06:28,062
I was driving the plow,

168
00:06:29,087 --> 00:06:30,726
Any repairs to plow or harness

169
00:06:30,754 --> 00:06:32,560
had to be taken to tradesmen.

170
00:06:33,503 --> 00:06:35,592
Once after working all day long

171
00:06:35,843 --> 00:06:37,886
I had to carry a plow horse collar

172
00:06:38,075 --> 00:06:38,995
that required whittling

173
00:06:38,995 --> 00:06:40,519
And the plow coulter

174
00:06:40,733 --> 00:06:42,834
that needed repairs at the blacksmith.

175
00:06:43,232 --> 00:06:44,949
These 2 heavy things made a burden

176
00:06:45,111 --> 00:06:46,310
far too much for me.

177
00:06:46,752 --> 00:06:47,806
But I had to trudge with them

178
00:06:47,806 --> 00:06:48,636
as best I could,

179
00:06:48,897 --> 00:06:49,901
the mile and a half

180
00:06:49,947 --> 00:06:51,218
across the fields to Evidon.

181
00:06:53,839 --> 00:06:55,490
William Arnold was just 6 years old

182
00:06:55,504 --> 00:06:56,616
when he went to work

183
00:06:56,616 --> 00:06:58,278
on that farm in North Hamptonshire

184
00:06:58,782 --> 00:06:59,682
And this is a horse collar

185
00:06:59,698 --> 00:07:01,225
like the one he carried.

186
00:07:02,121 --> 00:07:03,189
Let me show you just

187
00:07:03,222 --> 00:07:04,530
how heavy this is...

188
00:07:04,997 --> 00:07:06,644
[grunting]

189
00:07:11,004 --> 00:07:11,993
Now we need the coulter

190
00:07:11,993 --> 00:07:13,382
cuz he also carried that.

191
00:07:15,166 --> 00:07:16,418
This is part of the plow.

192
00:07:20,713 --> 00:07:21,727
40 pounds!

193
00:07:22,371 --> 00:07:23,216
That probably weighs

194
00:07:23,216 --> 00:07:24,395
more than he did.

195
00:07:36,632 --> 00:07:37,556
In many ways,

196
00:07:37,586 --> 00:07:38,555
the crow scarers and the children

197
00:07:38,676 --> 00:07:40,476
fetching and carrying for farm

198
00:07:40,507 --> 00:07:42,289
laborers were on the lowest rung

199
00:07:42,369 --> 00:07:43,644
of the employment ladder.

200
00:07:44,397 --> 00:07:45,941
But many testimonies tell us

201
00:07:46,463 --> 00:07:47,638
that even at that level

202
00:07:47,875 --> 00:07:48,934
and at a young age

203
00:07:49,481 --> 00:07:51,033
the children saw these punishing

204
00:07:51,067 --> 00:07:52,556
labors as an opportunity.

205
00:07:53,414 --> 00:07:54,610
They were proper workers,

206
00:07:54,884 --> 00:07:56,113
and they wanted to get on.

207
00:08:07,509 --> 00:08:08,494
I our village there was...

208
00:08:08,892 --> 00:08:10,307
and justice of the peace.

209
00:08:13,565 --> 00:08:15,056
I began to draw up a pair of horses

210
00:08:15,172 --> 00:08:16,193
that plow for him.

211
00:08:16,193 --> 00:08:17,375
And after a bit,

212
00:08:18,127 --> 00:08:18,818
thinking I suppose

213
00:08:19,362 --> 00:08:20,918
I was a small likely lad

214
00:08:21,402 --> 00:08:23,269
he made me a sort of stable boy

215
00:08:23,635 --> 00:08:25,077
and gave me 8 shillings a week

216
00:08:25,311 --> 00:08:25,884
to start with.

217
00:08:29,671 --> 00:08:30,681
Here was a... lad

218
00:08:31,094 --> 00:08:31,970
who was set on rising

219
00:08:31,970 --> 00:08:33,369
as fast and as much as he could.

220
00:08:35,382 --> 00:08:36,894
There were no slack off hours for me.

221
00:08:37,508 --> 00:08:38,746
No taking it easy with

222
00:08:38,753 --> 00:08:39,497
the other lads,

223
00:08:42,617 --> 00:08:43,393
To make more money,

224
00:08:43,713 --> 00:08:44,603
to do more,

225
00:08:44,911 --> 00:08:45,919
to know more,

226
00:08:46,109 --> 00:08:47,008
to be a somebody in

227
00:08:47,008 --> 00:08:47,833
my little world,

228
00:08:48,083 --> 00:08:49,042
was my ambition.

229
00:08:59,639 --> 00:09:00,895
They might not have had much choice

230
00:09:00,895 --> 00:09:01,969
about their employment

231
00:09:02,595 --> 00:09:03,844
but many children were determined

232
00:09:03,977 --> 00:09:05,920
to seize what opportunities came along

233
00:09:06,119 --> 00:09:07,876
with a level of determination

234
00:09:08,445 --> 00:09:10,669
and enthusiasm that's astonishing.

235
00:09:11,175 --> 00:09:12,780
If sometimes hard to imagine.

236
00:09:13,152 --> 00:09:14,754
For some jobs really did require

237
00:09:14,820 --> 00:09:16,459
huge amounts of courage.

238
00:09:23,514 --> 00:09:24,384
With a view of immediately

239
00:09:24,384 --> 00:09:25,840
testing my capablitiies,

240
00:09:26,420 --> 00:09:27,945
my new master persuaded me

241
00:09:27,945 --> 00:09:29,517
to climb a chimney on my

242
00:09:29,517 --> 00:09:30,727
very first morning.

243
00:09:31,036 --> 00:09:32,076
With the feet standing up on

244
00:09:32,076 --> 00:09:32,637
the grate,

245
00:09:32,853 --> 00:09:33,692
the body would nearly

246
00:09:33,692 --> 00:09:34,865
fill up the width of a chimney.

247
00:09:35,495 --> 00:09:37,001
I climbed with my right arm

248
00:09:37,111 --> 00:09:38,285
lifted above the head,

249
00:09:38,285 --> 00:09:39,618
the left arm by my side.

250
00:09:39,721 --> 00:09:41,101
The elbows were pressed

251
00:09:41,101 --> 00:09:42,510
hard against the brick work

252
00:09:42,648 --> 00:09:43,682
to hold the body suspended,

253
00:09:43,919 --> 00:09:45,078
until the knees were drawn up.

254
00:09:45,742 --> 00:09:46,640
Then the knees on one side

255
00:09:46,961 --> 00:09:48,560
and the bare heels on the other,

256
00:09:48,751 --> 00:09:49,862
held me secure.

257
00:09:50,589 --> 00:09:51,642
While the right hand held the scraper

258
00:09:52,093 --> 00:09:53,759
to bring down the soot

259
00:09:54,086 --> 00:09:54,959
the knees and elbows

260
00:09:54,959 --> 00:09:56,200
through the constant pressing

261
00:09:56,200 --> 00:09:57,703
and the friction with the brick work

262
00:09:57,874 --> 00:10:01,308
became peeled, thus allowing soot to penetrate.

263
00:10:01,810 --> 00:10:04,115
It caused open, festering sores.

264
00:10:04,336 --> 00:10:05,889
which took several weeks to heal.

265
00:10:07,207 --> 00:10:08,644
Breathing was always more or less

266
00:10:08,811 --> 00:10:09,562
a difficulty.

267
00:10:11,338 --> 00:10:12,722
A hood, called a climbing cap

268
00:10:13,002 --> 00:10:14,220
was drawn over the head

269
00:10:14,258 --> 00:10:15,474
and tucked in at the neck.

270
00:10:15,842 --> 00:10:17,055
But even with that protection,

271
00:10:17,253 --> 00:10:18,484
I was subject to the taste

272
00:10:18,721 --> 00:10:20,645
and inhalation of every kind of soot,

273
00:10:20,893 --> 00:10:22,558
into my throat and lungs,

274
00:10:23,389 --> 00:10:25,052
where fires had only just been put out,

275
00:10:25,364 --> 00:10:27,336
the sulfurous fumes were sufficient

276
00:10:27,505 --> 00:10:28,214
to stifle them.

277
00:10:29,097 --> 00:10:30,179
Once the fumes were so strong

278
00:10:30,179 --> 00:10:31,641
that I fell from top to bottom,

279
00:10:31,854 --> 00:10:32,996
[boy screams]

280
00:10:33,084 --> 00:10:34,090
lying sensible.

281
00:10:36,142 --> 00:10:40,968
[Mary Poppins song: Chim Chim Chiree.]

282
00:10:44,757 --> 00:10:46,008
Yes they really did put

283
00:10:46,008 --> 00:10:47,262
kids up chimneys

284
00:10:48,675 --> 00:10:50,420
And this is a kind of normal chimney

285
00:10:50,504 --> 00:10:51,571
that George Elson would have

286
00:10:51,571 --> 00:10:52,807
been dealing with.

287
00:10:57,332 --> 00:10:58,635
But that one's so wide

288
00:10:58,722 --> 00:10:59,643
that you would have no

289
00:10:59,756 --> 00:11:00,594
challenge from that.

290
00:11:00,831 --> 00:11:02,028
You'd have been up and down

291
00:11:02,028 --> 00:11:03,140
there like grease lightning.

292
00:11:03,629 --> 00:11:05,550
What really tested boy's metals

293
00:11:06,071 --> 00:11:07,212
were chimneys that measured

294
00:11:07,212 --> 00:11:08,774
9 inches by 9 inches,

295
00:11:08,966 --> 00:11:10,039
which is this size.

296
00:11:10,635 --> 00:11:12,059
And so ...

297
00:11:13,248 --> 00:11:14,100
and wriggle through

298
00:11:14,100 --> 00:11:15,866
and clean something like this.

299
00:11:17,138 --> 00:11:18,769
Seems practically impossible.

300
00:11:22,744 --> 00:11:24,389
Martin is president of the

301
00:11:24,424 --> 00:11:26,782
National Association of British Chimney Sweeps.

302
00:11:28,127 --> 00:11:30,021
So Martin, here's a very old chimney

303
00:11:30,086 --> 00:11:30,970
right here.

304
00:11:31,230 --> 00:11:32,330
And this is the kind of thing

305
00:11:32,330 --> 00:11:33,807
those boys would have to clean.

306
00:11:34,033 --> 00:11:34,673
So tell us,

307
00:11:34,836 --> 00:11:36,472
how did they go about doing it?

308
00:11:36,795 --> 00:11:37,990
Well the little boys were known

309
00:11:37,990 --> 00:11:39,098
as climbing boys.

310
00:11:39,398 --> 00:11:40,327
Apprentice to the trade

311
00:11:40,327 --> 00:11:42,161
at 7 years old in some cases

312
00:11:42,638 --> 00:11:43,674
and they used to use their

313
00:11:43,674 --> 00:11:45,714
elbows and knees to scamper

314
00:11:45,757 --> 00:11:46,560
up inside the chimney.

315
00:11:47,454 --> 00:11:48,977
And uh, in many cases they

316
00:11:49,095 --> 00:11:50,573
stripped naked

317
00:11:50,603 --> 00:11:52,870
although they had some sort of early uniform

318
00:11:53,285 --> 00:11:54,753
the soot used to fill the pockets

319
00:11:54,753 --> 00:11:57,059
and because the chimney design

320
00:11:57,259 --> 00:11:58,834
was so small they became wedged,

321
00:11:58,927 --> 00:12:00,211
so they stripped naked so they could

322
00:12:00,279 --> 00:12:02,530
escape back down the chimney

323
00:12:02,725 --> 00:12:03,431
after cleaning it.

324
00:12:03,916 --> 00:12:05,042
So what equipment did they have?

325
00:12:05,290 --> 00:12:06,342
The little climbing boys

326
00:12:06,417 --> 00:12:07,420
and in some cases girls,

327
00:12:07,884 --> 00:12:09,811
they used to use a small scraper

328
00:12:10,085 --> 00:12:10,772
such as this,

329
00:12:10,794 --> 00:12:12,167
a little metal scraper

330
00:12:12,167 --> 00:12:13,284
with a wooden handle

331
00:12:13,917 --> 00:12:15,801
and the traditional sweep's hand brush.

332
00:12:16,231 --> 00:12:17,200
which would literally,

333
00:12:17,200 --> 00:12:18,375
they would scrape the soot away

334
00:12:18,375 --> 00:12:20,082
and brush with the hand brush.

335
00:12:24,987 --> 00:12:26,889
The exploitation of climbing boys

336
00:12:26,889 --> 00:12:28,636
and girls was rightly seen

337
00:12:28,674 --> 00:12:30,902
at the time as a national scandal.

338
00:12:31,755 --> 00:12:32,795
However even when new

339
00:12:33,091 --> 00:12:34,185
technology was introduced

340
00:12:34,459 --> 00:12:35,420
in the form of jointed

341
00:12:35,420 --> 00:12:36,474
chimney brushes,

342
00:12:36,593 --> 00:12:38,874
and sweeps no longer needed children,

343
00:12:39,243 --> 00:12:41,263
it didn't mean boys and girls

344
00:12:41,263 --> 00:12:41,962
were spared.

345
00:12:43,418 --> 00:12:44,537
There was still a great reluctance

346
00:12:44,553 --> 00:12:46,322
for the master sweeps of the day

347
00:12:46,798 --> 00:12:48,042
to do away with boys,

348
00:12:48,251 --> 00:12:49,381
and it was far cheaper to

349
00:12:49,381 --> 00:12:51,438
purchase a small boy from a family

350
00:12:51,568 --> 00:12:52,748
for a guinea or 2

351
00:12:53,158 --> 00:12:54,774
a few shillings for the poorer families,

352
00:12:55,425 --> 00:12:56,443
and in some cases,

353
00:12:56,443 --> 00:12:57,117
little girls as well.

354
00:12:57,720 --> 00:12:59,018
So boys and girls were cheaper

355
00:12:59,018 --> 00:12:59,571
than brushes.

356
00:12:59,619 --> 00:13:00,650
Absolutely at the time.

357
00:13:01,825 --> 00:13:03,893
In one horrible incident in Dover

358
00:13:03,922 --> 00:13:06,951
where a master had sent a boy

359
00:13:06,951 --> 00:13:08,886
up the chimney with a wet towel

360
00:13:09,010 --> 00:13:10,977
to extinguish a chimney fire.

361
00:13:11,924 --> 00:13:13,677
And apparently he climbed

362
00:13:13,677 --> 00:13:14,557
into the flue

363
00:13:15,365 --> 00:13:17,155
very reluctantly, the master threatened

364
00:13:17,155 --> 00:13:18,054
to beat him.

365
00:13:18,607 --> 00:13:19,704
He attempted to climb

366
00:13:19,704 --> 00:13:20,662
further into the chimney

367
00:13:20,804 --> 00:13:23,166
then got stuck in the chimney wedged

368
00:13:23,754 --> 00:13:24,550
And apparently they heard

369
00:13:24,550 --> 00:13:26,639
his screams for over 2 miles.

370
00:13:32,426 --> 00:13:34,755
Not exactly Chim Chimney Cheree

371
00:13:34,838 --> 00:13:36,392
in Mary Poppins is it now?

372
00:13:37,280 --> 00:13:39,143
It shows how hard life was

373
00:13:39,293 --> 00:13:40,854
and how few opportunities there were.

374
00:13:40,959 --> 00:13:42,261
The many climbing boys

375
00:13:42,421 --> 00:13:43,921
quit the trade and went off

376
00:13:44,057 --> 00:13:45,474
to serve in the armed forces.

377
00:13:49,734 --> 00:13:50,892
The scandal of boy soldiers

378
00:13:50,972 --> 00:13:52,718
is something today that we associate

379
00:13:52,844 --> 00:13:53,412
with the most

380
00:13:53,412 --> 00:13:55,831
callous regimes in the developing world.

381
00:13:56,592 --> 00:13:58,304
But putting boys into war zones

382
00:13:59,089 --> 00:14:01,541
was actually an old British tradition.

383
00:14:02,949 --> 00:14:04,637
For example, there were 13 of them

384
00:14:04,677 --> 00:14:06,254
who fought in the Battle of Trafalgar

385
00:14:06,590 --> 00:14:08,695
on this ship, HMS Victory.

386
00:14:10,119 --> 00:14:11,661
One of them was a 16 year old

387
00:14:11,853 --> 00:14:14,327
midshipmen Lieutenant William Rivers.

388
00:14:15,672 --> 00:14:17,028
His father was also on board

389
00:14:17,197 --> 00:14:18,599
and William first went to sea

390
00:14:18,752 --> 00:14:20,559
with him on Victory age 6 and a half.

391
00:14:21,223 --> 00:14:22,703
And he immediately saw action

392
00:14:22,756 --> 00:14:23,886
and was wounded off....

393
00:14:31,843 --> 00:14:33,009
I had the honor of serving

394
00:14:33,009 --> 00:14:34,080
in 3 general actions.

395
00:14:34,779 --> 00:14:35,850
In the first,

396
00:14:36,047 --> 00:14:37,559
I received 2 wounds in my right arm.

397
00:14:39,789 --> 00:14:40,910
And in the latter while I was

398
00:14:40,910 --> 00:14:42,392
receiving orders from his late lordship

399
00:14:42,677 --> 00:14:43,637
Admiral Nelson,

400
00:14:44,280 --> 00:14:45,802
I received a wound on my face.

401
00:14:46,818 --> 00:14:48,155
which was shortly followed

402
00:14:48,155 --> 00:14:49,481
by a gun shot wound

403
00:14:49,481 --> 00:14:51,163
which carried away my left leg.

404
00:14:57,402 --> 00:14:58,429
Both William the father

405
00:14:58,505 --> 00:14:59,642
and William the son...