AN auctioneer will be proving that history cannot be swept under the carpet when a selection of vacuum cleaners goes on sale this week.

Adrian Mackwell, of Clifton upon Teme, will be auctioning an early collection of the cleaners, which will be part of a regular antique sale at Birmingham auction house Biddle & Webb in the Ladywood area of the city.

Mr Mackwell, who is the company’s associate director, said: “It is fascinating to learn how the vacuum cleaner has developed through the ages and how important its invention was from a hygiene and health perspective and not just as a domestic cleaning device.”

The cleaners for sale date from the early to middle part of the 1900s, include two very unusual coffee table vacuum cleaners called Tablevac made by Bylock, a bellows action Little Wizard, a BVC Riva bellows action cleaner, a Ewbank Alvian and a Bissells Grand Rapids model and Reeves Pneumatic Brooms.

The 44-year-old added: “We are really quite excited by the collection as it is quite unusual for so many rare and early items to come along at once and anticipate that the vacuum cleaners will generate a lot of interest from specialist collectors. It’s interesting to think that people in possession of earlier vacuum cleaners or other old domestic appliances may have something of value.”

For further information visit biddleandwebb.co.uk.

The vacuum cleaner fit for a queen

There is speculation over the date and origins of the first cleaner. While some patent dates appear in the early 20th century, other records reveal that a vacuum sweeper was produced back in the 1860s.

One of the earliest was invented in 1901 by H Cecil Booth that was so large it had to be mounted on a cart and pulled through the streets of London to the households that required his cleaning services.

One of Booth’s customers was Queen Victoria, who insisted on having the machine brought into the Palace to clean the floors.

Booth’s machine was even given credit for ending the “plague” in an English Naval barracks as dust and germs were blamed for harbouring germs.