The Many Attainable Causes British Individuals Rent Chimney Sweeps for Their Weddings

Kevin Giddings, his cat and some happy customers. Kevin Giddings / Milborrow Chimney Sweeps

Kevin Giddings, 54, is that Owner of Milborrow Chimney Sweeps in West Sussex, England. Despite having some well-known clients, including Buckingham Palace, his job is fairly straightforward. Most days he and his staff make house calls to repair chimneys, clean boilers and of course swept chimneys.

A few times a month, however, Giddings’ job involves slightly different tasks. On these days he gets dressed – with a top hat, black gloves, a tie and a jacket with tails (he puts the jacket on just above his kettle suit). He puts his black cat Sooty on his shoulder and takes an old-fashioned wooden fireplace brush. He smears soot all over his face. And when he’s done, he makes his way to a stranger’s wedding.

Everyone knows that a happiness seeking bride needs things old, new, borrowed, and blue. But if you’re trying to tip the scales towards wedded happiness in the UK, your best bet is to make sure you have a real chimney sweep, too. For a small fee, often around £ 100, you can make sure someone shows up to shake hands with the groom, kiss the bride, take pictures, and generally give sooty cheers. “Our job is to wish everyone the best of luck,” explains Giddings. “It’s one of the best parts of a chimney sweep.”

A chimney sweep from the Victorian era, the inspiration for today’s “Lucky Sweeps”. Unknown / public domain

“It is believed that you will be lucky enough to attend your wedding,” said Liz Leicester of Pete the Sweep in North Yorkshire, whose husband Mark Leicester is making such appearances. But as with most superstitions, the roots of that superstition are difficult to trace. A shared story that Leicester and Giddings both told me is about King George II, a puppy and a faulty horse.

Basically it is said that during a royal procession a dog pinched the legs of the king’s horse and frightened the horse. A chimney sweep then emerged from the crowd, brought the animal under control, and then disappeared again. “The king was unable to personally thank the sweep,” says Leicester. “So he said that from that day on, sweeps should be considered a godsend.”

There are other explanations as well. In a 1951 article for folklore, historian Philip Brown went over most of them and did not come to very many conclusions. It could have something to do with the ancient Roman connection between soot and fertility, he says – Vulcan, the god of fire and forge, was married to Venus, the goddess of love – or an old tradition, the fireplace on New Year’s Day clear out day, for good luck.

A Pete the Sweep wedding rep, complete with brat. Liz Leicester / Pete the Sweep

Certain 17th century May 1st parades may or may not have been preceded by street sweepers who may or may not have dressed like chimney sweeps. There is also another popular (and probably wrong) story where a chimney sweep falls off a roof, gets caught in a gutter, is pulled through a window by a “young girl”, and she soon marries.

There might be a moral dimension to humiliating yourself on a somewhat proud day – a bride dressed all in white takes a risk by kissing a sooty sweep on the cheek. Giddings makes a purely utilitarian argument: “Two hundred years ago, when a new bride became a wife, she became the mistress of the household,” he says. “The landlady had to be responsible for the cooking, the heating, the hot water … if she didn’t get to know the chimney sweep, she couldn’t take care of all of that.” In other words, it’s better to start strong from day one.

If you look at real British history, luck and chimney sweeping are some strange bedfellows. From the late 17th century – after the Great Fire of London decimated many of the city’s old buildings and people built new ones with thinner chimneys – adult sweepers began to hire young boys, often orphans, to clean them up in the chimneys.

A “climbing boy” and his boss from 19th century Italy. Museo Sonogno / public domain

The insides of chimneys are not very healthy places, and many of these so-called “climbing boys” have had burns, irritation, and respiratory problems – or “chimney sweep’s cancer,” a type of scrotal tumor that was the first occupational cancer ever diagnosed. Life was so bad for young people that Parliament passed a law in 1864 banning the use of climbing boys.

However, the idea of ​​the lucky chimney sweep survived this historical irony. “In the British Isles or the Continent, just a cynical stomach ulcer … would not welcome a chance meeting with a chimney sweep,” wrote George L. Phillips in 1951 in the Journal of American Folklore.

Happy chimney sweeps appear in literature, from Mary Poppins (in which a grumpy Mr. Banks refuses to shake hands with a sweeper) to Ulysses (in which a minor character calls out “Soot luck”). According to Time magazine, Prince Philip emerged from Kensington Palace at 11 a.m. on the morning of his wedding to Queen Elizabeth in 1947 [and] shook hands with a chimney sweep. “

Sweeps today love to keep up the tradition. The summer is a solid sideline, generally a slow time to sweep: Leicester says they’ll host at least one wedding a week from around April through September, and Giddings estimates he’s gotten around 100 gigs at a time .

Another stroke of luck from Milborrow Chimney Sweeps is kissing the bride. Kevin Giddings / Milborrow Chimney Sweeps

Many British chimney sweeps advertise wedding appearances, and although most stick to the standard Victorian outfit, many try to stand out from the crowd by offering souvenirs or special extras – champagne, official certificates, bags with real soot. Some work with the wedding parties to make sure they appear “out of the blue” – a chance encounter, even a choreographed one, is considered the happiest.

Mark Leicester travels to concerts on a flowered bicycle, sometimes with a historically correct assistant: “If he has one, he takes it with him [a little boy dressed as] a kid, ”says Liz. And Giddings has his black cat, which he has trained from childhood to love crowds and to travel around on his shoulder. (Sooty is the latest in a long line: “Unfortunately, the cats themselves are not lucky because they keep crossing the busy street near us and being run over,” says Giddings.)

However, apart from cats, everyone else tends to be one step ahead. Wedding parties generally give good reviews – the best part is when families become repeat customers and the sweeps can check out the couples they’ve once helped, Leicester says. And the ones that do the best are likely to be the sweeps themselves, getting in, getting out and getting paid. “It’s a happy day,” says Giddings. “I’m happy to participate.”