Booth, Charles

Original Poverty Maps of London suburbs from "Life and Labour of the People in London" by Charles Booth. Booth was a philanthropist and social reformer. He was critical of the existing statistical data on poverty in late-Victorian London. His research showed that 35% of the population were living in abject poverty - far higher than widely believed. He popularised the idea of the 'poverty line', and used his work to argue for the introduction of Old Age Pensions which he described as "limited socialism". He was not a socialist, but had sympathy with the working classes and argued that such reforms would help prevent socialist revolution from occurring in Britain. Map colour key: Black: Lowest class; Dark Blue: Very poor; Light Blue: Moderate Poverty; Purple: Poverty & Comfort (mixed); Pink Fairly comfortable; Red: Well-to-do; Yellow: Wealthy