Brief

A brotherhood of boys working to survive the dangers of the chimney sweep trade in 1700s London. Infants of the Brush – historical fiction based on the King’s Bench case Armory v. Delamirie – portrays the cruelty of child labor and resilience of the human spirit in the pre-industrial age.

What We Liked

Keeping you on pins and needles with each job these children are forced to undertake, this story really illustrates the callous disregard for life that permeated society, and not all that long ago.

Film: The compelling characters and the high drama of everyday life and death in 1700s London keeps the stakes high enough to fill the structure of a film. The characters are at the most crucial time in their lives, and we take the journey with them into this exciting and terrifying world. We expect twists and surprises, knowing they can probably mostly mean bad things, and this dread propels the plot. The beauty and the carnage of the setting is also a plus for cinematic adaptation.

TV: This could make a good short form series but doesn't have the breadth and depth of material for a regular series. The audience would want to see what danger lurks around the next block for these characters. They are certainly as worthy of empathy as any other on television. The other-worldliness of period drama also seems to be a good draw for television viewers.

Key points: Period London
Kids in peril
Evil selfish adults
Fraternal bonds
Justice and injustices

Synopsis

London, 1721. Reeves, a boy chimney sweep, runs around from home to home asking if his services are needed. It’s a holiday, so no one is opening their doors because of the chaos this day usually brings on the streets. He picks some pockets, then finds a blouse with a brooch sewn into it and is able to hide it before some older kids beat him up and take his coins. Egan, 6, and his little sister Kerrin go to the Thames to await their dad’s boat. They see it, but he doesn’t come off with the rest of the merchant marines. He’s died in an accident, and their mother is catatonic. Kerrin gets the measles. Egan looks for work. Lamerie, 30s, exits his carriage and enters the goldsmith’s union where he signs on two 15 year-old apprentices who will be with him for the next seven years. Egan’s mother sells him to Armory, 30s-50s, who will employ him as a chimney sweep. Egan screams and cries as his mother leaves him. Armory smacks him hard, and hands him to another boy, Pitt, 13, for training. Pitt is missing two fingers and a thumb. They were burnt off in a chimney accident. They visit Ms. Bixby, a kind lady who runs a mortuary. She shaves off Egan’s hair so it doesn’t catch fire in the chimneys. She gives Egan a wrapping for his head to protect him while he works. Then they take to the streets and look for chimneys that don’t have much smoke coming out of them because they’re clogged, and yell “sweep” for the inhabitants, who sometimes come out and let them in to clean the chimney. Pitt shows Egan how it’s done, and at the end of the day they go back to Armory’s where they give him their money and sleep in a coal cellar. Pitt tells Egan to save his money because it’s five guineas to buy his freedom from Armory and he can go home. Egan meets Andrew, Rory, Iggy, Adam, Tick, and Will, who live there too. They all sleep on the sacks full of ash that they collect. Egan finds out that a kid named Reeves died.

Early the next morning they all get a meager bowl of gruel then go out looking for work. Pitt and Egan clean a large house with a lot of chimneys and Egan is scared at first but then gets the hang of it. They get a meal and two shillings. Pitt hides some of the money in his shoe in order to save enough to buy his freedom and shows Egan how to do the same. Armory will get the rest.

Lamerie scolds Charles, his new apprentice, for not polishing the silver well enough. Bennett, the other apprentice, is allowed to go home after melting silver. All the sweepers gather in the basement and play cards, while Tick is thrown down the stairs for being a penny short for the day. Pitt promises to look out for him tomorrow so it doesn’t happen again. The next morning, Armory is still drunk from the night before but takes Pitt and Egan with him to a house that has a lot of chimneys that converge into one - and they’re all small. Pitt gets to work, while Egan is too scared to climb into the tight space. Armory smacks him hard and Egan climbs in. Then, Armory lights a fire underneath him and Egan starts screaming and feels stuck and can’t see a thing. Pitt calls down to him and helps him climb up to the roof. Egan has to now go back in and start cleaning but he cries that he can’t. Pitt smacks him and he goes back inside. When he gets to the bottom, Armory sees that Pitt has smacked him already so he doesn’t feel the need to. Pitt helps Egan clean his cut knees and tells him he did good, and if he hadn’t hit him, Armory would have done much worse. At his shop, Lamerie and Bennett discuss the mark that craftsmen make on their silver and the taxes they have to pay. They both don’t particularly like Charles.

Spring rains allow afternoons off for the boys, who play games in the cellar. When the rain stops, there’s a lot of business. The boys visit Rex, who was a sweep who was badly injured and is crippled and deformed. They give him some money and bread, and then run from the police. Summer arrives, and Armory goes off to the country so the sweeps are on their own, even though they’re still supposed to earn money for him. Egan and Pitt go to Egan’s old house, but they find out his mother moved away. Pitt promises they’ll find her somehow. They sleep in a graveyard, but they’re caught and told they’re allowed to sleep there if they help with upkeep. A priest takes them in and gives them new clothes and has them sit in on christenings and weddings. They use a candle to perform their own ceremony that is supposed to make their wishes come true. Armory comes back from the country at the end of the summer and work begins again. He takes them to a huge mansion where Iggy gets stuck in one of the chimneys but Egan helps him out again. It’s Christmas, and Egan, out working alone, gets lost. He ends up in a church where people give him coins. The priest points him in the right direction and he finally gets back to Armory’s house. Armory wakes Pitt and Egan and takes them to a tavern to clear the chimney. It’s too hot inside and Pitt doesn’t want to go in but Armory makes him. He covers himself as best he can and goes up, but there is a fire above him, and it falls on him and he dies. Armory tells Egan to get the rest of the boys and they all come and take Pitt’s body away and he is buried in a pit with other poor people. Egan cries as a priest tries to comfort him. Egan has Pitt’s shoes with Pitt’s money and he takes it to the undertaker Ms. Bixby to count for him. He’s two guineas short of the five he needs to buy his freedom from Armory. The next morning is business as usual, but Egan can’t take it and attacks Armory, who whips him, beats him, and throws him down the stairs. Locked in the cellar for the day, he finds the ruby brooch that belonged to Reeves. The next day, he takes it to Lamerie’s shop where Charles tells him he’ll have to take it apart to evaluate it. Lamerie comes out and offers him a fraction of what it’s worth. When Egan says no and asks for it back, Charles hands it to him - missing the ruby. Egan protests and is thrown out. He goes back and tells Armory the story. Mr. and Mrs. Armory take him to Lamerie’s shop in a carriage, and Armory and Lamerie argue over the theft of the jewel. Later, the boys meet, but without Rory. They need a plan to get rid of him since he’s taken over as head boy since Pitt died. Rory is hated by the other boys and demands part of their earnings.

The next day, Armory takes Egan to Westminster where he hires a solicitor to sue Lamerie. Back in the cellar, Egan recounts the whole story about the brooch to the other kids. Rory demands a guinea if Egan gets the money for it. Egan promises Iggy he’ll take him with him if he can buy freedom for both of them. Egan is kept inside until the court date, where he helps out in the kitchen and gets to eat more than usual. He brings food to the other boys at night but they are still jealous of him. Egan is scrubbed in a tub for court the next day, and is even given a bed to sleep in. In court, the jury rules that Armory should be paid fifty pounds for the missing jewel. Everyone is surprised, especially Egan. Armory takes them to a pub to celebrate and Egan is given a good meal. Drunk, Armory informs Egan that, since he owns him, he owns all of the money. Egan can’t believe what he’s hearing. It’s all been a lie and they can’t buy their freedom. Armory takes Egan to the Thames and sells him to a ship for five guineas. Egan is treated as one of the crew, not as a slave, and not owned. He earns wages that he’s allowed to keep and hopes to die on the sea like his dad.

About The Author

A. M. Watson is a teacher, attorney, and author whose soul awakens when visiting libraries, museums, and historic sites. She lives on an island off the coast of Maine where she manages a utility company by day and writes overlooking the harbor at night.