Soot, Skin and Dust: A Comparative History of Chimney Sweeps, Occupational Health and Testicular Cancer 1775-1925. (360G-Wellcome-080660_Z_06_Z)

There has been widespread recognition that chimney sweeps, and especially climbing boys, were one of the first groups targeted for medical and philanthropic assistance in late C18 and early C19 England. However, despite folkloric studies by Phillips and general surveys by Strange and Cullingford, there has been no systematic analysis of their history from the perspective of the history of medicine and occupational health. Furthermore there has been no comparative, European study of their health experiences which relates it to their work culture. Nor has any study explored the incidence of chimney sweep's cancer, as scrotal cancer was termed, in other work contexts in the C19 and early C20. This research will thus examine crucial early episodes in the history of occupational medicine and public health reform in a novel and comparative perspective.