Plaque for chimney sweep, 11, whose death changed law

The first blue plaque to commemorate the life of a child will be unveiled at the house where he died.

George Brewster, 11, became trapped in a chimney of a former Victorian pauper asylum in Fulbourn, Cambridgeshire.

Amateur historian, Joanna Hudson, said he deserved the recognition as his death was the catalyst that stopped children from going up chimneys to clean them.

She said he was the last "climbing boy" to die in England in 1875.

The inquest into George's death was reported in the national press and prompted the 7th Earl of Shaftesbury to push for a new law in 1875, stopping children from being used as "climbing boys" in England.

According to Ms Hudson, from Pampisford, Cambridgeshire, 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 , before being fully enforced in 1880.

James Littlewood, of heritage group Cambridge Past Present Future said: "Usually, we receive applications for people who have done amazing things in their lives.

"George's story is different and special, he didn't get the opportunity to do amazing things in his life, but his death was the spark for a change in British law that improved the working conditions for all children. We believe that George's story deserves a blue plaque, so we granted Joanna's application."

Other Cambridge blue plaque recipients included Charles Darwin, Oliver Cromwell and Alan Turing.

Joanna Hudson said: "Over the past six years, I have been on a whirlwind journey, finding out the true story of George Brewster, a seemingly insignificant 11-year-old boy, who died not knowing that he changed the lives of thousands of children across the land – a story of huge historical significance, for not only Cambridgeshire, but the whole country.

"When you realise the momentous turning point George Brewster's death brought to changing child labour laws in Britain, you realise how important his story is."

The plaque will go on the building now occupied by life science campus, CamLIFE and will be officially unveiled on 11 February.

Funds were also being raised for a marker on George's currently unmarked grave in Mill Road Cemetery, and a commemorative statue depicting the "Last Climbing Boy" in Cambridge.

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