Introduction to Charles Booth’s London Poverty Map - with Sarah Wise

A full day of lectures and learning on Charles Booth's London and the Poverty Map, with Sarah Wise.

Introduction to Charles Booth’s London and the Poverty Map - with Sarah Wise

This one-day course explores Charles Booth’s landmark survey, Life & Labour of the People in London (1889-1903), which is available to read in the collections. Booth investigated working-class political movements, women’s lives, religious beliefs, immigrant experiences, children, schools and trades.

Using Booth’s Poverty Map, we’ll examine London neighbourhoods using historical photos, sketches and eyewitness accounts. Among the phenomena Booth analysed are: working-class political movements, women’s lives and economic status, religious/spiritual belief, late-Victorian immigrant experiences of the city, children and schools, the various trades of London.

Sarah Wise is a social historian and visiting professor at the University of California's London Study Centre. Her previous books include Inconvenient People: Lunacy, Liberty and the Mad-Doctors in Victorian England and The Blackest Streets: The Life and Death of a Victorian Slum