Poverty maps offer a vivid window into Britain’s social history. The most famous were created by Charles Booth for his groundbreaking survey Life and Labour of the People in London (1889), later published in revised editions through to 1903. His colour-coded maps—ranging from black (destitute) to yellow (wealthy)—revealed that over 35% of Londoners lived in poverty, challenging official data and helping to push forward reforms like old age pensions. Booth’s work was continued in later editions with more detailed mapping and expanded geographical coverage. Inspired by Booth, Seebohm Rowntree conducted a similar study in York in 1901, showing that poverty stemmed from structural causes like low wages, not moral failure. In the 1930s, Booth’s former assistant Sir Hubert Llewellyn Smith directed the New Survey of London Life and Labour at the London School of Economics. Booth’s maps have featured in BBC’s The Secret History of Our Streets and are frequently referenced in Who Do You Think You Are? when exploring ancestors’ lives in Victorian London. They’ve also been discussed in several BBC Radio programmes, underscoring their enduring value as powerful tools for visualising inequality and driving social change.
