Tramore of Yore

On Thursday 30 August 1832, an inquest was held in Waterford City into the death of a twelve year old ‘climbing boy’ named Michael Brien. The body of the boy was presented before the coroner Michael Evelyn and a ‘respectable jury’. Brien was an apprentice to Philip Corbett; a chimney sweep from Keyser’s Lane in the city.[1] During the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries it was common practice for boys as young as five to be used to clean the chimneys of large houses despite the many injuries and illnesses that such work subjected them to. Moreover, they were often a figure of fun, as the following extract from the Waterford Herald in August 1793 demonstrates: Three chimney sweeper’s boys tumbled into the river, near the Fish House, on Sunday afternoon. Assistance being at hand, they were immediately taken out. The water had the curious effect on them-the poor fellows, when brought ashore, had really changed colour!’[2] However, a growing movement of reformers argued that the invention of the sweeping machine in 1828 meant it was no longer necessary to use children to clean chimneys.

According to the evidence as reported in the local newspapers, on the previous Wednesday morning Corbett accompanied by the deceased left the city at an early hour for Tramore where he was engaged to sweep chimneys in the house of Mr Pierse George Barron Esq. of Eastlands. He arrived at Mr Barron’s house at about seven o’clock to find that the kitchen fire had already been lit. However, Corbett was reported to have told the staff that it would not be necessary to put out the fire for the purpose of sweeping the chimney as he would cover it with slack which would prevent any injury to the boy. Having covered the fire with slack he ordered the boy to climb the chimney and to begin cleaning. The boy obeyed but before he had gotten many yards, he cried out that the chimney was too hot to go any further. The master told him to ‘rattle away’ as the chimney was cool enough. The poor child continued to ascend in great pain and difficulty owing to the heat of the chimney and the smoke issuing from the fire.[3]

It was stated that Corbett then placed some straw on the fire to keep the smoke from rising but unfortunately the straw ignited, and a tremendous blaze rushed up the chimney. The little boy managed to reach the top of the chimney and from there the roof of the house. A ladder was immediately brought, and the boy was brought down by Mr Barron’s servants. Other reports of chimney sweeps recall a similar practice whereby they sometimes resorted to burning straw with a handful of soot to make more smoke in an attempt to force a climbing boy up a chimney.[4]

The appearance of the boy’s body was ‘truly distressing having been dreadfully scorched and burned’. The boy was able to speak at the time, and he said, in the mildest and most heart-rending accent, ‘Oh, master, what made you send me up there?’ The child was then brought into the kitchen and Mr Barron sent off for Dr Waters to administer medical aid.[5]

Before the arrival of Doctor Waters, Corbett rolled the child up in the loose garment which young sweeps generally wore and brought him away in his arms contrary to the wishes of those present. He carried him into Waterford but didn’t report the occurrence until between seven and eight o’clock in the evening at which time ‘he brought the boy in a dying state and speechless to the Leper Hospital’.[6] It was between seven and eight in the morning when he left Mr Barron’s, so that twelve hours intervened before he applied for medical aid. Unfortunately, the child died about a half an hour after he was brought to hospital. Doctor Mackesy of the hospital stated that if there was timely medical assistance the life of the boy would have been saved.[7]

In another account the fire had been put out in order to enable the sweep to climb but the chimney remained warm, and the heat was increased by an adjoining flue of a heated oven. The boy managed to force his way up to the roof where he called ‘most pitiably for assistance’. Corbett first attempted to climb the chimney to help the boy. Then a ladder was brought, and Corbett went to assist the boy but was so frightened that he came down. A slater was then called upon and the boy was taken down the ladder. Contrary to the recommendations of those around him Corbett wrapped the boy in a soot bag, took him on his back and hurried toward Waterford. On his journey in, he left the child behind and went into town for assistance which having been gotten, the child was then brought to the hospital.[8]

The inquest painted Corbett as something of a demon, which was in line with a certain public revulsion at numerous cases of the mistreatment and brutal physical abuse of climbing boys by their masters at the time.[9] Was Corbett’s priority in leaving the scene to prevent the intervention of the authorities, as the newspaper report implied? Did the proprietor of the house, in this case a Justice of the Peace, soon to be appointed High Sheriff of County Waterford in 1835, give free reign to a lowly chimney sweep to come and go on his property as he pleased? One thing is for certain, Corbett did not design the grand eighteenth century brick houses with chimney flues so narrow and crooked that only a young child could clean them.

Nevertheless, the inquest became an international news story, even making the front page of the Boston Morning Post on 19 October 1832 where it stated that, ‘On his way to Waterford the child died in the most excruciating torture, the flesh having actually melted on his little limbs.[10]

Philip Corbett was tried for the crime of manslaughter on 23 October 1832 at the Summer Assizes in Waterford City, at which Pierce George Barron happened to be one of the County Grand Jurors. He was charged with occasioning the death of Michael Brien, but not having maliciously caused it. The first witness called was Joseph Cashman, a servant of Mr Barron. He was examined by Mr Smith, King’s Council and testified that before the prisoner sent the boy up the chimney there was a fire burning in the grate. Prior to the boy climbing the chimney, Corbett got some ashes and threw them on the fire. Afterwards he got straw, wetted it, and placed it on the fire to prevent the heat going to the boy. Cashman stated that he told Corbett that he thought that it was rather hot for the boy to ascend, but that Corbett answered ‘Oh, we must do the best we can.’ The boy then refused to go up, saying ‘it is too hot for me to go up.’ The boy then went up the chimney and on complaining of the heat, Corbett said, ‘rattle away at it.’ Cashman said that he did not remain in the kitchen all the time that the boy was in the chimney. He was in the pantry a part of the time and returned to the kitchen when he heard the master screeching for the boy to go up as fast as he could from the heat. The boy got up to the top of the chimney and the prisoner and a slater got on the roof and brought the boy down. The fire took light, but Cashman did not see it; it was the straw took light and was blazing. While it was lighting Corbett put his head and shoulders up the chimney and his legs on the grate and ordered the boy to take care and get up to the top from the blaze as fast as he could. He did not hear the boy reply. The witness said that the straw was smoking but not blazing when he came in the first time but the second time, he saw the straw blazing.[11]

When the boy was brought down, Cashman advised Corbett to bring the boy into Waterford to a doctor and he then wrapped him up in a cloak and said he would. It was between eight and nine o’clock in the morning when the boy was brought down from the roof and the master immediately set out with him for Waterford. When the boy was brought down, he was crying and was very much burned. According to Cashman ‘the prisoner did not apply to any doctor in Tramore, there was a doctor resident in Tramore, and the boy was not brought to him’.

Mary Walsh who was the kitchen maid in Mr Barron’s house at the time of the occurrence deposed much the same statements as Cashman. Corbett endeavoured by his cross examination of the witness to show that she had put fresh coals on the fire for the purpose of hastening breakfast as it was approaching the breakfast hour and in consequence of that she was the cause of the straw igniting and endangering the boy’s life. She gave a negative answer to every question put to her by him.[12]

Doctor Thomas Lewis Mackesy deposed that the boy was brought to the Leper Hospital at about 8 o’clock in the evening of the day laid in the indictment, when he was sent for, on arriving at the hospital the boy was dead. He was in the arms of the prisoner at the time. The cause of death was extensive burns on several parts of his body. From the extent of the burns, he thought that the boy could not recover if medical assistance had been applied for in time; but any chance of recovery was taken away by not applying in time for that assistance.

Maurice O’Neil, the porter of the hospital stated that the prisoner brought the boy to the hospital within a few minutes off 8 o’clock in the evening at which time the boy was alive. He went immediately for the doctor who arrived at the hospital about 15 minutes later, the boy had died before the doctor arrived. O’Neil said the boy who was about 12 years old often worked at the hospital accompanied by his master who seemed very fond of and attentive of him.

Having been called by the court for his defence, Corbett stated that he always used the boy with tenderness and kindness and that he would as soon injure his own life for he was the only support for him and his family. He then called on the gentlemen of the jury for a character witness. Mr Pierse Cox one of the jurors deposed as to the proper and quiet character of the prisoner prior to the event. William H Hansard Esq, Recorder of Waterford was next sworn. He stated that in consequence of the prisoner’s humanity to his boys, several benevolent ladies of Waterford had applied for his services and those ladies also had subscribed for a sweeping machine which they gave to him and which he always used whenever possible. However, there were some chimneys which from their construction could not be swept with the machine and it was only in such cases he understood the prisoner employed the boys.

William Baird, the former master of the Mendicity Institution testified that about eight years previously there were two children in the asylum whose parents were dead. One of them through choice and against his wishes went to Corbett as an apprentice. When he met the child some time afterwards, he remonstrated with him on the impropriety of choosing such a trade, whereby the boy replied that he was so well treated by Corbett that he would not leave him on any account. The boy’s brother then also went to live with Corbett and also gave a favourable account of life with him.

The case having closed, ‘the learned judge’ Baron Foster made some strong observations on the heedlessness and incaution of the prisoner in sending the boy up the chimney which was known to him to be rather a dangerous undertaking to ascend while a fire burned in the grate. He also dwelt on the neglect of the prisoner in not seeking medical aid for the boy sooner than he did. This circumstance attached much blame to the prisoner who if he had used only common diligence in this respect might have preserved the life of the child. His lordship made some ‘excellent observations on the inhumanity of employing children in a work which could be better performed by a machine, and which was generally to be had in every town in the kingdom’. His lordship then recapitulated the evidence and commented as he went along in terms not very favourable to the prisoner.[13]

Before the jury retired Corbett requested the liberty to say a few words in explanation of his conduct. The judge refused the application but said that the prisoner might have his say after the jury retired. The jury having then retired, Corbett said that he never employed boys in sweeping chimneys unless where he could not introduce the machine from the crookedness of the chimneys. With respect to the charge of neglect in not applying earlier to a medical gentleman, he said that he had to bring the boy six miles on his back from Tramore to Waterford and that he was several hours doing so, as he had to stop for a considerable time on the road both to rest himself and relive the boy who was in great pain. The jury returned into court for a few minutes and handed in to the Clerk of the Crown a verdict of guilty. The judge after some further observations on the transaction, sentenced the prisoner to transportation for seven years.[14]

At the following Waterford Assizes City Court, it was noted that a memorial which would be signed by the jury and several respectable inhabitants, was being prepared in favour of Philip Corbett, the master sweep who was convicted of the manslaughter of his apprentice. The jury who tried Corbett had no idea the judge’s sentence would be so severe and in consequence of the high character references he received for his uniform humanity to his boys, it was trusted that the benevolent individuals who had undertaken the task would dispatch the memorial for the consideration by the Lord Lieutenant without delay.[15] The appeal for leniency did not have the desired effect and the sentence of transportation for seven years stood.

Corbett was described in his criminal records as a 48 year old widower with one child. He was a Roman Catholic from Waterford with no education. Conversely, his penal records describe him as a boatman by profession and a seaman by trade. According to his physical description he stood 5 foot 5 ½ inches tall, bearing a dark sallow complexion, brown greying hair and hazel eyes.[16] Corbett was incarcerated in prison in Cork and then transported on the convict ship Portland which arrived there from London on 10 January 1833 under the command of Captain Ascough. The ship sailed with convicts from Cork for New South Wales on 21 February.

At this time, Waterford was experiencing a Cholera outbreak. On 14 July 1832 Pierce George Barron wrote to the Chief Secretary’s Office requesting permission to form a Board of Health for Tramore and the district as a precautionary measure in order to combat the epidemic. However, by the end of the year over twenty people in Tramore had died. During the voyage of the Portland, there was an outbreak of cholera on board the ship. When the ship put into Lisbon it was reported that three of the convicts had died and that fifteen were seriously ill.[17] Nevertheless, the ship arrived in Sydney on 26 June 1833 with 184 male convicts and three free passengers under the superintendence of Dr Charles Inches. News of the arrival of the ship in Australia reached Ireland in December 1834: ‘The Portland convict ship from Ireland has arrived at Sydney, New South Wales. Seven or eight prisoners had died on board of cholera.’^[18]

Philip Corbett survived the journey being one of the convicts that arrived in Sydney on that Wednesday, 26 June 1833 on the ship Portland. On his arrival he was assigned to work for a fellow called Matthew Chapman at his farm at Hunter’s River. He was later given a Ticket of Leave from the Colonial Secretary’s Office in Sydney dated 26 July 1837 in order to work at the general hospital in Newcastle in the county of Northumberland. The hospital stood on a hill overlooking the Pacific Ocean and Hunter River Port. The first hospital on the site was built by and for convicts.[19] At a general muster of convicts in the colony in 1837, he was described as being aged sixty one.[20] Corbett received a ticket of leave passport, issued on 18 January 1838. He was to proceed to Liverpool Plains, there to remain in the company of Mr John Eales for 12 months on the recommendation of the Maitland Bench, dated December 1838.[21] No Certificate of Freedom has been located for Philip Corbett, but he should have been free by servitude in October 1839. There is a possibility that he may have died before it was due to be granted, but not all of the Certificate of Freedom registers survived. While Corbett may have been granted a certificate of freedom that allowed him to return to Ireland, he might have chosen not to do so. He may have considered life to be better there than back home, where he would have carried a certain infamy. Moreover, in order to return, he would have had to pay for the voyage, which was expensive

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[1] Waterford Mail, 1 September 1832.

[2] Waterford Herald, 24 August 1793.

[3] Waterford Mail, 1 September 1832.

[4] James Kelly, Chimney Sweeps, Climbing Boys and Child Employment in Ireland, 1775-1875., Page 37, Journals.sagepub.com, 2000.

[5] Waterford Mail, 1 September 1832.

[6] Waterford Mail, 1 September 1832.

[7] Waterford Mail, 1 September 1832.

[8] Saunder’s Newsletter, 4 September 1832.

[9] James Kelly, Chimney Sweeps, Climbing Boys and Child Employment in Ireland, 1775-1875. Journals.sagepub.com, 2000.

[10] Waterford Mail, 24 October 1832.

[11] Waterford Mail, 24 October 1832.

[12] Waterford Mail, 24 October 1832.

[13] Waterford Mail, 24 October 1832.

[14] Waterford Mail, 24 October 1832.

[15] Waterford Mail Saturday 27 October 1832.

[16]  New South Wales, Australia Convict Ship Muster Rolls and Related Records, 1790-1849, Ancestry.co.uk.

[17] Freeman’s Journal, 5 April 1833.

¹⁷ Kerry Evening Post, 18 December 1833.

[19] http://www.patersonriver.com.au/ealesconvicts.

^[20] New South Wales and Tasmania, Australia Convict Musters, 1806-1849, Ancestry.co.uk.

[21] Australia Convict Tickets of Leave 1824-1874, State Records Authority of New South Wales.