Joseph Glass (1791/2 – 29 December 1867) was the inventor of a successful chimney-sweeping apparatus, and a campaigner against boys being employed in sweeping chimneys.
He was born in Colchester, in Essex, England; after early years in Manningtree, he moved to London, working as a builder.
The SSNCB and the Royal Society for the Encouragement of Arts, Manufactures and Commerce promoted a competition for an effective apparatus for cleaning chimneys.
In 1834 there was a committee of the House of Lords to which Glass gave evidence, resulting in the Chimney Sweepers Act 1834.
[1] Glass died at his home in Brixton on 29 December 1867, in his seventy-sixth year; his death was noticed in the Court Circular, since Queen Victoria was interested in the campaign.