George Brewster
George Brewster, an 11-year-old Victorian chimney sweep, is the UK’s youngest-ever recipient of an official blue plaque.
As the last ‘climbing boy’ to die in England, his death was discussed in Parliament and was the catalyst for change in child labour laws that saved thousands of young lives.
The blue plaque was unveiled exactly 150 years since 11-year-old George Brewster’s tragic death at Victoria House, a building that stands today in the heart of Longfellow Real Estate Partners’ CamLIFE campus in Fulbourn, Cambridge.
The George Brewster story is the culmination of a six-year campaign led by local historian, Joanna Hudson, supported by Longfellow Real Estate Partners, the Guild of Master Chimney Sweeps, Friends of Mill Road Cemetery, the Museum of Cambridge and the 12th Earl of Shaftesbury.
On 11th February 1875, George Brewster was forced by his master to climb and clean a chimney at what was then the County Pauper Lunatic Asylum in Fulbourn (3 miles from the centre of Cambridge). Only 15 minutes after entering the chimney, George became stuck. In an attempt to rescue him, an entire wall was pulled down. He was eventually pulled from the chimney but died shortly after.
The use of ‘climbing boys’, as they were known, was not uncommon in England up to the Victorian age, and attempts had been made, starting in 1840, to outlaw the use of children to clean chimneys but the practice continued. The death of George Brewster in 1875 was extraordinary, changing Britain forever.
George’s inquest was reported in the national press and when the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury read about the boy’s tragic death, he vowed to make a change. George’s death was the catalyst enabling the Earl to get another Act passed by Parliament in September 1875 that succeeded in stopping children from being used as ‘climbing boys’ in England and ending a 35 year-long campaign led by the Earl.
George Brewster was the last ‘climbing boy’ to die in England, but his death was also part of a much greater transformation of British industrial society that saw the end of all child labour practices in other industries such as farming, mining and in factories. Just a year later, in 1876, it was recommended that education be made compulsory in the UK for all children. And then, in 1880, a further Education Act finally made school attendance compulsory.
In 2019, Joanna Hudson from Pampisford (Cambridgeshire) stumbled upon George Brewster’s little-known story and was inspired to launch a campaign to tell his remarkable story and to honour his legacy. Joanna conducted extensive research into George’s life and death to support her application to the Cambridge & District Blue Plaque Scheme, which gave approval for a Blue Plaque in 2019. The unveiling ceremony took place on the 150th anniversary of George’s death at what is now a lab and office campus known as CamLIFE.
