Dramaturgical Note:
My research on the new Poor Law began when I challenged myself to write a musical adaptation instead of an original musical. I happened upon a report entitled Society for Superseding the Necessity of Climbing Boys: by encouraging a new method of sweeping chimneys and for improving the condition of children and others, employed by chimney sweepers and found its contents intriguing. It was a report published by the aforementioned society regarding Victorian chimney sweeping methods. In it, members argued for the removal of using climbing boys in favor of replacing them with automated machinery proven to more efficiently clean chimney flumes; “the chimneys were found so clean, that the boys were literally unable to bring down any soot, after Day, another of the Society’s Agents, had swept with the machine” (Superseding). The Society was comprised of members of the opposition Whig party in Parliament, including social justice advocate Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury. Lord Ashley—styled as “Lord Shaftesbury” in the musical—was an especially prominent advocate for child laborers, and maintained an ongoing dialogue with Parliament to continue to better conditions for child workers, and eventually end child labor altogether.
My conception of chimney sweeps before reading this report had been entirely shaped by their primarily campy inclusion in popular culture as a mascot of British culture, such as in the films Mary Poppins and Mary Poppins Returns. After reading about the abuse, dangers, and horrors those in the sweeping industry encountered on a daily basis, I was unsure how to reconcile the misrepresentation of chimney sweeps in popular culture with this historic account representing the very real horrors faced by these laborers in Victorian England. I found it unsettling how the media, popular culture, and the U.K. itself have not only eradicated the horrors that working-class Britons faced, but that they have also shifted the narratives of real people in order to portray them in a way suitable for audiences and their art. This is similar to what historian of 19th-century British literature and culture Katherine Newey examined in her article “Climbing Boys and Factory Girls: Popular Melodramas of Working Life”. She surveyed the significance of the “framing of the social shape of power” through theatrical melodrama, focusing on the evolution of work and working life during the Second Industrial Revolution. Examining Superseding in tandem with Newey’s article proved to be very valuable in inspiring a plot for this musical I have set out to write, that actively pushes against the notion that this aspect of the Victorian era should be misrepresented or left out completely in entertainment. Though the report was thorough, I still needed to heavily supplement this niche set of knowledge with the historical context of the Victorian era, as everything I thought I knew about it is now in question. Additionally, it was imperative that I understand the history behind the systems and laws that heavily shaped this time period. Thus, I have assessed a wide range of primary and secondary sources; I have accumulated research and knowledge from books, academic journals, documentaries, web articles, and images to augment the information in Superseding.
My hope is that this less publicly known side of Victorian England, a period that is heavily romanticized in art and popular culture despite its grotesque treatment of the poor and working-class, is explained in my musical’s songs and story. While it is easy and tempting to write off all attempts to explore serious topics in musical theater, I employ the audiences of this essay, and of future performances of this musical, to understand my utilization of story and song in telling the stories of the misrepresented and silenced voices in Victorian England is intentional. The retelling of the Victorian period by entertainers, history textbooks, and European culture is gilded. Thus, it is my intention to follow suit in the hope that once audiences get past the connotation of the musical format I am presenting this information, they will see the true nature and circumstances of Victorian England. And they will understand that the gilded lens through which this time period is all too often examined unfairly posits the Victorian period and Second Industrial Revolution as periods of immense growth for all of British society. Those who built and forwarded the immense growth and innovation seen during this period suffered for it, and their side of the story deserves to be told; the price those in power agreed to pay for the advancement of few, and for the external advancement of their society.
In this essay, I will be providing historical context and information needed to understand the song from the musical that follows it. I implore audiences to take this essay as a work of dramaturgy, rather than a piece of finished and complete theatrics or narrative, as this work is far from that point, and is best described as an abridged version of the song list. I give my thanks in advance to those who read this and try to understand the storyline and what I am attempting to do. I have also provided the cast of characters and their descriptions so that my audience can understand the significance of each singer and the song’s message or relation to the report that inspired it. Once again, this is not a libretto, merely a compilation of my research and what has resulted from it.
CAST OF CHARACTERS
Nellie (17) – Our protagonist. Persistent, ambitious, and energetic. She is set on making things right, hence her attempt to join local political campaigns in order to help make progress.
Mister Bry (41) – Nellie’s father. Stern, stoic, and aged. He currently works as a craftsman but spent the duration of his upbringing in the workhouse his mother had him in.
Nathaniel (19) – The oldest of the climbing boys, and their unofficial leader/spokesman. He is kind, steadfast, and empathetic. He lost his younger sister in a factory incident years ago.
Workhouse Masters (40s-70s) – The supervisors and masters of the workhouse. Strict, cold-hearted, and eager to wield power at the mercy of those they preside over.
Master Sweep (30s) – Weathered, cruel, and surly. Selfishly passionate about making money.
Tory Leader (60s) – A wealthy aristocrat. Leader of the conservative Tory Party in the House of Lords. Lord Shaftesbury’s greatest opponent in Parliament.
Brash Climbing Boy (15) – One of the climbing boys. A true teenager—brash, prone to mischief, and sarcastic—though he respects Nathaniel and fancies himself second-in-command to Nathaniel. Comparable to Riff from West Side Story.
Innocent Climbing Boy (7) – New to the climbing boy ranks. He is sweet, hopeful, and naive.
***
The new Poor Law, or, Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834, “ensure[s] that the poor were housed in workhouses, clothed, and fed…In return for this care, all workhouse paupers would have to work for several hours each day” in Victorian England (1834 Poor Law).
“Another Day (Working to Live, Living to Work)”
WORKHOUSE RESIDENTS
VERSE 1
Another day I wake up
—still hungry, didn’t get my fill from sup
Another fast to break, this one lasted for
What seems like 40 nights and days
Going on 41, not even Jesus lasted that long—cheek to tongue
Go downstairs, eat less than my fill: just a measly spot of tea
Hardly enough for me to sweep the floors so that they’re clean to get dirty
CHORUS 1
So I get up, get on with my time
Just another day working to live
Just another day living to work
Don’t ask me which one it is
As far as I’m concerned both are absurd
Just another day in this great gray soot-filled world
That I build
VERSE 2
Greeted by the Parish masters
Don’t care if I look like a disaster
Spent my night wishing to get plastered
Wouldn’t that be nice?
Back to work, must make my quote by lunchtime
My day consists of doing odd jobs
For fellows best known as “mods”
Sweeping and cleaning, and overhearing about reading
Pulsing, convulsing iron ore with the hot blast technique
So it can kill my friends, help Master make amends
With tax collectors sent by the House of the Killer Queen
CHORUS 2
So I get up, get on with my time
Just another day working to live
Just another day living to work
On technology that takes precedent over the poor, over us laborers
Over those who make them work in our backs-built world
BRIDGE
Why don’t I leave? Yeah, great idea –
Don’t you see? It’s live and die inside or leave and die of abject poverty
Really, it’s not so bad
Really, you’ve got to get through the day
And one by one you’ll soon be done
Just keep looking forward until sweet sweet judgment day
But until then
I’ll just stay in my pen
Knowing that it’s one less of
CHORUS 3
Another day working to live, living to work
Sweeping the floors, wondering why we’re so cursed
By this Anglican-sponsored entity
Well I guess that’s the price we pay
Either way, we live another day
Indebted to someone who reigns Victoriously
Albert and Victoria, enjoy your built-up country
***
In the following musical moment, the protagonist, Nellie (17), has just gotten into an argument with her father regarding her desire to aid the crusade against the utilization of climbing boys. She had previously been walking home after getting rejected from joining the campaign team for a local politician (the reasoning is not made explicit, but it can be deduced that her gender, social class, and lack of formal education provided grounds for employment discrimination) when she witnessed a coroner extracting the limp body of a young boy from the flumes of a chimney, and falsely pronounced his cause of death as “natural causes” at the request of the master sweep who wished not to be fined for an on-site accident. This infuriates Nellie, hence her wish to take action against the appalling sight she just witnessed—whether or not she is on a political campaign team.
“Clean Sweep”
NELLIE
VERSE 1
How does my father not understand why I must get involved?
Has he ever looked down at his calloused hands and let himself be appalled?
How desensitized to abuse can an exploited man be?
That he doesn’t want his daughter to fix the system of misery
PRE-CHORUS 1
If everyone wants to ignore why the poor stay poor
And how Britain keeps accumulating more
I’d tell them to look at the House of Lords’ Poor Law papers
That they “blindly” sign amongst the fog cigar vapors
CHORUS 1
And then pretend it’s too thick to see the despondency they cause
—all for a one hundred-pound clause
I’LL SWEEP THE SMOKE AWAY FROM THEIR EYES
Then the climbing boys’ conditions, they will have to liberalize
VERSE 2
If those inside the palace are the ones that get to make the rules
Then I’m sure they wouldn’t mind if their houses remained cool
You can’t light a fire without setting the soot free
The same goes for these boys cleaning their chimney’s chin-to-knee
PRE-CHORUS 2
If everyone wants to ignore why there’s a new sweep at their door
Always after a visit from the coroner
It’s thanks to every master sweep that lets these boys die and weep
In their Anglican-endorsed care, these boys must wonder if God is still there
CHORUS 2
Or if He pretends it’s too thick to see the hell of Lucifer’s laws
—all for the comfort of the bourgeois
Well, if that’s so, I’LL SWEEP THE SMOKE AWAY FROM THE SKIES
Then the climbing boys’ conditions, they will have to revise
BRIDGE
Can I do this?
It’s never been done before
Yes, this is worth waging war
I am ready to be
The one who tips the scale towards liberty
CHORUS 3
And fixing unjust laws
That gives John Bull more money in his paws
We didn’t start the fire, but we’re left to clean out the debris
and doing so will aid the plea of Lord Shaftesbury
OUTRO
Let me promulgate Prometheus’ flame,
I won’t let it be in vain
I’ll sweep the cloud of smoke away
God help me save these boys I pray
***
When members of the Society of Superseding the Necessity for Climbing Boys discovered that profit margins were also a large factor in the popularity of using child labor, specifically for chimney sweeping, they attempted to provide master sweeps with “glass machines,” which were proven to be more efficient at cleaning flumes than climbing boys. To their dismay, they found that:
These heartless men, having at once discovered that chimneys were so much better cleansed by this means, that the sweeping would be wanted less frequently than if boys were continued; and further, that if children were given up, men would be required to work the machines, and this would break in upon the masters’ profits. (Superseding)
“Pray, Save the Masters”
WORKHOUSE MASTERS & MASTER SWEEP
CHORUS 1
When you work as hard as we do,
When you work all-day
And have to chastise children whose life didn’t go their way
Then you know how Jesus felt, the virtuous master
And how Noah’s Arc delivered him from disaster
VERSE 1
We are the guardians of the Lord,
We stand proud and tall —
We never slouch, complain, or shout
Unless, of course, it’s warranted
In order to keep the law intact
Sometimes those peasant’s heads we must crack
CHORUS 2
When you work as hard as we do,
When you work all-day
Work for 16 hours supervising play
No, it’s not very fun
Yes, it’s very hard
But of course, we do it
With pride for our charge
BRIDGE
Amen
All of those men, ungrateful for their keep
A-woman,
The women in stripes are much too polite
Though, it only comes out at night
A-men
They wear their scarlet A’s with disgusting pride
We instate the shame
A-men
Our men are honorable men, must not be led astray by their gaze
PRE-CHORUS
We are the workhouse masters, we are the master sweeps
We sweep up their immorality
We are the workhouse masters, we are the master sweeps
We sweep the streets of paupers
We clothe their dirty feet
CHORUS 3
We work work work all-day
Overseeing the streets and the children’s play
Work work work all-day
Somebody’s got to do it
Work work work all-day
Hail the monarchy’s heyday
Work work work all-day
God save the Queen
God save the Revolution
God save these wretched children
Pray, save us Masters
We will save these wretched children for You who is our Master
Amen
***
In her article, “Climbing Boys and Factory Girls: Popular Melodramas of Working Life,” historian Katherine Newey finds that “the formula of romantic melodrama began to be combined with a rhetoric of reality and social engagement…feeding back images of working-class life to largely working-class audiences.” I have taken inspiration from how these 19th-century melodramas frame and portray the narratives of working-class and impoverished Britons, whilst also using their stories as political commentary to expose the horrors and faults of the workhouse system and the political corruption of conservatives in Parliament. The theater provided a space for political commentary on the effects of the Poor Laws on its audiences in Victorian England. Melodramas were an important political device during this time, utilized for both advocacy and reflection. Playwrights worked in tandem with people such as members of the Society, which helped to pave the way for reflection and reform of the Poor Laws, brought about towards the close of the century by members of Parliament against the workhouse institution and the Poor Laws.
“We Are the Climbing Boys”
CLIMBING BOYS
INTRO
We work all day, we slave for bread
We work all day, we slave for bread
—a half-ration? Have they no compassion?
For our stomachs that rumble in bed?
Sleep on the hard hay
Pray, still we survive another day
Though sometimes we might think it’s better the other way
WORKHOUSE MASTER
“Everybody up!”
CLIMBING BOYS
CHORUS 1
We are the climbing boys to the Master sweep
We are the climbing boys, in company we won’t weep
We are the climbing boys
We see what you don’t
We are the climbing boys
Against our wills we promote
VERSE 1
This glorious occupation
That forwards our great nation’s
Progression and contribution to society
INNOCENT CLIMBING BOY
We’re happy to clean your flumes!
BRASH CLIMBING BOY
You have eight chimneys?
CLIMBING BOYS
One per room!
BRASH CLIMBING BOY
On second thought, hand someone else me broom!
ALL CLIMBING BOYS
CHORUS 2
We are the climbing boys to the Master sweep
We are the climbing boys, we must earn our keep
We are the climbing boys
We see what you won’t
We are the climbing boys
Against our wills we gloat:
VERSE 2
This glorious occupation
Essential to industrialization
We are proud and eager
De-soot your chimneys
Our Master will simply shove us in chin-to-knee
So that it’ll be even harder to breathe
Amongst the soot and the flames and fumes,
But don’t go crying for me!
CHORUS 3
We are the climbing boys to the Master sweep
We are the climbing boys, that keep rich Britons counting sheep
We are the climbing boys
We see what you promote
We are the climbing boys
Against our wills we float:
VERSE 3
Up to Heaven, to be with our Creator in the sky
To the Pearly Gates, pray Drina doesn’t dictate where we reside
Down below our Master pulls us out
Of the chimney wall, discovered the soot-filled drought that ensued
The coroner comes, ‘twas an “accidental death” —that filthy scum
OUTRO
Ah, who cares? We know it’s comin’
Ah, who cares anyway?
Certainly not our masters, or lawmakers of today
So when the day is done, here’s our rule of thumb:
Sleep on the hard hay
Pray, still we survive another day
And hope for our friend it’s better the other way
***
At this point in the show, Nellie has decided to secretly observe the climbing boys at work. She is so enamored with watching the boys work that she forgets to blend in. She is quickly confronted by the master sweep as to why she is lurking around the climbing boys. Nellie lies and says she is looking for an apprenticeship herself. Unconvinced yet amused, the master sweep tells her to come back the next day. Suddenly, this becomes a bit too real to Nellie, who panics and contemplates abandoning the project.
“Clean Sweep (reprise)”
NELLIE
VERSE
Did that just happen? What did I just do?
I wasn’t prepared to get that close
To fickle man, breaking honest hands
—who simply looks morose
And now I’ve gone and gotten myself an apprentice—shit
Could I back out now and simply remain complicit?
PRE-CHORUS
No! Nellie, don’t be a prick,
—then you’re no better than Chadwick
While I have a choice, these kids are forced into bricks
If I want to already flee, imagine how awful their lives it must be
Living day to day in fear that they’ll get stuck and twist the wrong way
CHORUS
So I must stay strong and continue on; abandoning my privilege to steer clear
From master sweeps, workhouses, and passing fears
Watch me sweep the smoke away alongside
The climbing boys who I will soon from the flumes have pried
Nellie decides to take action after gathering this preliminary research. She returns to the politician’s office to research these new “glass machines” at the library and public records office. There, she runs into Lord Shaftesbury. He admires her tenacity but is too tired and busy to deal with the big dreams of a naive youth who will probably get their soul crushed once they realize the unlikelihood of these things changing—at least with the current state of the opposition in Parliament. This leads to Nellie striking out on her own and organizing a protest with the climbing boys in front of the Town Legislature. It is embarrassingly small and fails miserably, gaining the attention of few, who deem it more of a nuisance than anything threatening to the law.
“Back to Back-Breaking Work”
NATHANIEL
VERSE 1
We didn’t win…nothing has changed
Honestly, why did we think things could be rearranged?
Following this girl blindly, whose dreams have suddenly become estranged
Why did I think it would bring about change?
ADD CLIMBING BOYS
VERSE 2
Why did we think being led by thee
Better off would have any compassion for the urgency?
Would have cared any bit about me
We failed, the system prevailed
As it always does
PRE-CHORUS 1
You know it’s quite humorous to think that they’d humor us
And let us fight for the liberty of Britain’s sons
CHORUS 1
Now it’s back to work, or as they’d say play
It’s back to breaking our backs night and day
The word “revolution” usually works in our favor
But when it comes to industrialization, we’re simply the players
BRIDGE
So, Nellie, dear, you’ve failed all of us
It’s back to the flumes inhaling soot and dust
Nellie, dear why did you think it so
That you could change our fates
With force less steady than the chimney blows
That you could change our fates
By yourself, only God knows
PRE-CHORUS 2
You know it’s quite humorous you thought that they’d humor us
And let you—a girl—fight for the liberty of Britain’s sons
CHORUS 2
Now it’s back to work, or as you think, play
It’s back to breaking our backs night and day
The word “movement” usually works in our favor
But when it comes to Nellie Bry, we’re simply the players
OUTRO
What you were thinking to be shrinking
The lives of those already in enough danger
To simply aid the cause—to lift yourself up to the Bourgeois
That’s just how the Lord made her:
Self-centered, one who’s never beggared
Put on the shoulders of those who made her
Great big life, free from strife
In this great, gray soot-filled world
That for Victoria and Albert, and now, Nellie,
We built
Nellie is absolutely appalled. Not even people who are on her side and share the same goal trust her to take matters into her own hands. That exterior doubt sparks something in Nellie. She does not want to make attempts at taking action—this isn’t for her to say she tried her best and went after her goal. This is about action, and she must follow through, even if that means picking herself and the climbing boys up after a failed battle plan.
“Retort to The Report”
NELLIE
VERSE 1
How could they do this? Where did we go wrong?
How could they have led me astray?
I thought we were there, I thought we were in it
I thought for sure we made it to sweet, sweet judgment day
CHORUS 1
I didn’t mean to make more of a mess
You have enough already to clean
I didn’t think they’d run from this
I guess they had more reason than I to be keen
VERSE 3
On quitting the situation regarding the Society’s cause
I’d plead with Lord Shaftesbury if he wasn’t already receiving claws
From the rest of Parliament
From the rest of the House of Lords
BRASH CLIMBING BOY
VERSE 3
I’m sure he’s sorry that he can do nothing more
To shut down the gates to hell, the ones we know well
That house us sweeps, that breed our occupation
For which we must dodge death until after we’ve served our nation
INNOCENT CLIMBING BOY
I am truly sorry, but I don’t regret what we did
NELLIE
BRIDGE
Didn’t listen to my father, I didn’t listen to him
Maybe I should have been satisfied
With living out my life as his joy and pride
Maybe I should’ve kept my nose inside
The business of one’s own
But then I’d be no better than them
Whose cigar smoke clouds their eyes
Who refuse to help these “little guys”
From demise
CHORUS 2
I didn’t mean to make more of a mess
You have enough already to clean
Still, I won’t run from this
New information I have gives me reason to ask thee:
OUTRO
What to do now? Have we really lost?
Was this just for the Society’s report?
Was this lost battle worth that cost?
If we pull our pennies together, maybe then we could see
It was never meant for us to wait for them to grant us victory
We must choose to take it and run with it!
Join me
Nellie writes an exposé on the horrors of the chimney sweeping industry and the workhouse system. She is ecstatic to show the climbing boys and formulate a new plan of action. The boys and Nathaniel do not have the same reaction she thought they would in her head. They are hesitant to allow her to publish it because it might get them into trouble and do more harm than good. Nellie is stubborn and can’t understand why they wouldn’t want her to expose the abuses they’ve suffered and fix their lives, as well as the lives of all the workers and impoverished in Britain. This pushes her away. She finds herself in the old church attached to the workhouse sulking, thinking about what it was all for if they cannot even act upon it.
Nathaniel enters. Nellie asks him why he doesn’t think he should publish it. He tells her the dangers of muckraking and how her sister was imprisoned and killed because of her reckless use of free speech to advocate for those who could not stand up for themselves. He reveals that his family was formerly well-stationed in London, but after his sister’s escapades, his father was sacked from Parliament, his mother became ill, and eventually, he became orphaned and was forced to enter the workhouse system. Nellie sympathizes with him. He has already lost everything, and he cannot risk that happening to the younger climbing boys if she were to publish the piece. They share a moment of understanding and come to a collaborative conclusion to organize a parish-wide rally in the town square to explain her findings.
“Report No. 2”
INNOCENT CLIMBING BOY
What do we need…what do we need to do?
BRASH CLIMBING BOY
Why should we follow you, you led us into a trap last time
NELLIE
I know, I know but now we’ll take it slow
Calculate our moves, calculate it so we cannot lose
NATHANIEL
Alright boys, go grab your brooms
NELLIE
Are you sure Nathaniel?
NATHANIEL
I’m sure. Now hush, hush you
NELLIE
Nathaniel—
NATHANIEL
Nellie, please. I’m doing this for my family.
NELLIE
Alrighty. Then I suppose let’s go.
Here, give me quotes;
Here, give me paper
EAGER CLIMBING BOY
Let’s make the ink out of soot and chimney vapors!
NELLIE
Here, write this down
NATHANIEL
Here, fold this
BRASH CLIMBING BOY
At this point why don’t we just seal it with a kiss
NATHANIEL
To the butcher, to the shops, to those people whose chimneys you mop
To Parliament, to the town
To the House of Lords: we will bring you down
NATHANIEL
Send out the call
That there will be a brawl
Send out the call
NATHANIEL & NELLIE
And let people be appalled
Send out the call
Deliver it to those who fall
At the mercy of those who make the law
The Climbing Boys run through the town dropping off the Report. Nellie & Nathaniel ready the town square for a public statement—a rally of sorts. The Report is delivered to the House of Lords. An aid brings the note into the Tory Leader’s office.
TORY LEADER
“What is the meaning of this? You mean to tell me that these pound-away paupers organized a…whatever this is….and they’re led by a girl?”
AID
“Yes, the same girl you turned away who wanted to work on your political campaign.”
TORY LEADER
“My God, I’m an idiot.”
AID
“Oh, yes, sir. I think she’d agree”
The Tory Leader is ushered to the Town Square where the Climbing Boys, Nellie, Nathaniel, and the rest of the town are gathered, Reports all in hand.
TORY LEADER
What do you have to say for yourself? Shaftesbury, did you know?
What do you have to say for yourself? You’ve relegated us to hell below
What do you have to say for yourself? Will these boys still be sweeps?
I guess not but look at you lot. Are you even suited to be anything more than housekeep?
Uproar from the crowd ensues
TORY LEADER
Okay, guess not—just a thought. Who organized this decree?
CLIMBING BOYS
Nellie!
TORY LEADER
My dear, follow me
What do you say, will you join this campaign and let all this be?
NELLIE
I think not, and moreover, this is not worth it to me
MISTER BRY
Nellie, what are you doing?
NELLIE
Father, please let me be
TORY LEADER
What can we do to settle this down,
What can we do so I’m not the talk of the town?
NELLIE
Please set these boys free,
Shut down the workhouse and cycle of misery
TORY LEADER
I can’t do that! Shut down the workhouse?
That provides all our income and labor!
NELLIE
Maybe if you paid for labor
More people could savor
The things they bring to life
TORY LEADER
“Good grief.”
NELLIE
Replace the boys with machines
TORY LEADER
“That’s expensive!”
NELLIE
Oh? You mean the ones they build for free?
NATHANIEL
More expensive than the lives we’ve already lost?
TORY LEADER
Fine, fine, I guess it’s worth the cost.
(To the town square):
“Effective immediately the parish workhouses of Tyne & Wear are to be dissolved. Boys, you are relieved from your duties.”
(To his aid):
“It’ll cost me a pretty penny, but at least my face will still be on it!”
EVERYONE
Do you hear that? Our lives are worth the cost!
NATHANIEL, NELLIE & CLIMBING BOYS
They lost!
Nellie and the climbing boys have achieved victory! A new law is enacted outlawing the use of climbing boys, replacing them with sweeping machines. The local parish workhouse is shut down. Nellie realizes how much power and influence she actually has at this moment and uses it to push for further change by talking herself into a job at Lord Shaftesbury’s office, who happily complies.
Necessity compelled your Committee to set up honest men to work the machine fairly, and by this means a way is opened for the total abolition of the revolting practice of employing children in this business. The determination of the common chimney-sweepers above alluded to, continues to the present hour in full force ; and no man, during the last twenty years, has ever been found to use the machine faithfully, if he retains a single child in his service for the purpose of sweeping chimneys. (Superseding)
This is the assertion that sparked the real-life removal of climbing boys from the chimney sweeping occupation. It is necessary to acknowledge that “the work of campaigners who presented their findings” was of vital importance to “ending the barbarity of climbing boys and the mainstream acceptance of neglect, abuse and forced labour” (Chimney Sweeps). These social justice movements pressured Parliament to pass legislation such as the 1875 Chimney Sweepers Act, which enforced “years of previous legislation which had attempted to improve their living and working conditions…with the assistance of Lord Shaftesbury, a bill was passed forcing sweeps to be licensed and registered with the police, thus enforcing supervision of the practices” (Chimney Sweeps). The cultural phenomenon of the chimney sweep occupation lives on in British tradition, such as the Sweeps Festival in Kent, the belief that is is good luck for a “bride to glimpse a sight of a chimney sweep,” and the “light-hearted depiction of what was a sad and cruel reality of young children victimised by their poverty and trapped by their circumstances” (Chimney Sweeps). The new Poor Law is a part of Britain’s past that is unsightly, yet necessary to unearth. Over 16 million Britons resided in a Victorian workhouse, meaning over 16 million Britons were denied the dignity, respect, and inherent rights they deserved as human beings. It is only right that those who built and forcibly fostered innovation receive the historical acknowledgement they are owed, instead of being swept under the gilded progress of the Second Industrial Revolution, which perpetuated the institutional abuse they remained subject to—most for the duration of their lives.
Acknowledgments
Thank you to my Research Writing peers for workshopping my paper during its early stages. Thank you to Professor Mary Kovaleski Byrnes for giving me time, grace, and encouragement to complete this genre-blended research essay. Special thanks to my peer group from Studio’s Pasek & Paul Songwriting for Musical Theater course: Melody Ruiz, Romina Foster, Jim Novak, Wyatt Bland, Nell Quinn-Gibney, Kevin Phillips, and Donald Harrison. Finally, I would like to acknowledge the millions of working-class and impoverished men, women, and children who were subjected to the horrors of the Poor Laws and workhouse system. May your memory be honored, respected, and revered by all of us who benefit from it. May your descendants and relatives discover you as part of their roots, and may they turn your legacy into a memorial garden abloom.
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