A blue plaque has been unveiled at a Bowdon house to mark the life of William Wood, the social reformer known as “The Climbing Boys’ Friend”.
The plaque is at Willow Cottage, 28 Stamford Road, where Wood lived after retiring there in 1847. It was unveiled last week at a ceremony organised by Trafford Council’s Local Studies team, attended by residents, historians, council members, Connor Rand MP and the Friends of Bowdon Churchyard.
Wood, born in 1782, was a wool merchant who began campaigning in 1826 after seeing a young boy fall to his death inside a chimney onto a live fire. “Climbing boys” were children sent up chimneys to sweep them, often suffering burns, respiratory illness, deformity and suffocation.
From Bowdon he funded prosecutions against master sweeps who broke child labour laws, put up placards at railway stations and wrote to newspapers.
He also challenged magistrates and even Queen Victoria over the use of a child sweep at Windsor Castle.
His work with Lord Shaftesbury included testimony to the House of Lords in 1853, which helped lead to the Chimney Sweepers Act of 1875. Wood died in 1868, aged 85, seven years before the practice was banned. Six chimney sweeps from five towns carried his coffin to St Mary’s Churchyard.
Cllr Eve Parker, Trafford Council’s Executive Member for Leisure, Arts, Culture and Heritage, said: “William Wood’s story is a remarkable piece of local history, and it’s a privilege to honour his life's work.
"From his home in Bowdon, he fought tirelessly against unimaginable cruelty, using his own time and resources to protect vulnerable children across the country.”
