George Brewster – an 11-year-old Chimney Sweep’s ‘apprentice’ , On a cold February in 1875 was sent up a boiler chimney at Fubourn Mental Asylum by his master. He sadly suffocated, nothing out of the ordinary for Victorian England however, the story afterwards is remarkable! The inquest made the London papers and when the Earl of Shaftsbury read about the boy's brutal death, he vowed to make a change.

The death of George Brewster in a chimney flue in 1875 was the catalyst for a law criminalising the practice of using child labour in the chimney sweeping industry. George Brewster was the last 'climbing boy' to die in England, but his death was part of a much greater transformation of British industrial society that saw the end of child labour practices in all industries – mining, farming and in factories amongst others and set in motion the introduction of compulsory education for all children.

The most remarkable part of the story - it is mostly unknown. 145 years after his sad death, I have vowed to get George's story out there. I have a huge project ahead.. but to start with I am raising money for a BLUE PLAQUE at the original Mental Asylum building entrance where George died. If I raise any more money, I will work towards getting him a headstone on his un-marked grave, and then onto working with a museum to get an exhibition about his life and his amazing story.

Help me to remember George, his death saved the lives of so many.