What does this map show? Who created it? Why was it created?

Charles Booth

Charles Booth, a successful businessman, created this map in the

late 1800s. Booth believed that social reformers and newspapers

had exaggerated London's poverty levels - studies made at the

time estimated that a quarter of the population lived in

unacceptable conditions.

In 1886, Booth decided to find out the truth of the matter, and

began work on a new study of London's poor. His research

revealed that the reality was even worse than official figures

suggested: as many as one third of Londoners lived in poverty.

Booth's study took into account a wide variety of

subjects: working conditions, education, wage

levels, workhouses, religion, and police, to name a

few. As part of his research Booth lived with

working-class families for several weeks at a time.

Booth's study was called 'Life and Labour of the

People in London‘ and using a colour code he

created a map that represents varying levels of

poverty: for example, dark blue stands for 'Very

poor. Casual, chronic want', while black stands for

'Lowest class. Vicious, semi criminal.’

He wrote of the many happy yet poor children he

met who were free from servants and

governesses that wealthier children had.

However, he recognised that for poor families

disease, hunger and death were a real danger.

Why were living conditions like for the poor in Victorian England?

WALT

• To develop an understanding of what

living conditions were like in the

industrial towns of the 19th century

• To investigate what housing was like

for the poor and the options available

to those who were destitute.

WILF

Grade D/F – Identify & describe some of the key problems facing the poor in 19th century towns

Grade C/B – Use a range of sources to explain why conditions were so bad

Grade A/A* Analyse the use and reliability of the sources when considering living conditions

What can you see in this picture?

What does this suggest about the living conditions?

What were living conditions like for the poor?

• During the Industrial Revolution, more people

moved into the growing industrial towns to

find work in factories.

• Factory owners built houses for them to live

in. However, there were no planning

regulations to follow, so they would build

them as cheaply and as quickly as possible.

• Land cost money, so landlords would build

as many houses as possible in one area.

• Houses were built back-to-back in long rows.

There were no gardens and few windows.

In hard times people

would rent one room in a

house. Sometimes two

families shared the room.

In Liverpool in 1847, 40

people were found to be

sharing the same room!

• Very few workers’ houses had running

water so people had to fetch it from a

pipe at the end of the street.

• There were also no toilets in the

houses. Whole streets (200-300

people) would often have to share.

• The toilet was known as the ‘privy’

and would consist of a wooden seat

over a hole called a ‘cesspit’.

• The cesspits were emptied at night by

Nightsoilmen, but would often go

weeks without being cleaned,

meaning they overflowed and sewage

ran down the street

Common Lodging Houses

For those who were destitute,

common lodging house offered a bed

and some food for 4-6d a night.

In 1839, London had around 220

lodging houses with a total

population of around 2,500.

This number increased massively in

1847-8 by refugees from Ireland

escaping the potato famine.

In 1854, the number of registered

houses was 1,441, providing 30,000

places. A further 50,000 people lived

in unregistered lodging houses.

Common Lodging Houses were notorious for their overcrowding. Bed-sharing was

common. Some places operated a two-relay system where a bed was occupied by one

person during the day, and another by night.

“It is by no means unusual to find eighteen or

twenty in one small room, the heat and horrid

smell from which are insufferable... If they have

linen, they take it off to escape vermin... The

amiable and deservedly popular minister of a

district church, built among lodging houses, has

stated that he has found twenty-nine human

beings in one apartment; and that, having with

difficulty knelt down between two beds to pray

with a dying woman, his legs became so jammed

that he could hardly get up again”

What were living conditions like for the PoorWhat were living conditions like for the Poor

Read the sources on the sheet that tell you about living conditions for the poor

in the 19th century. Feel free to highlight any interesting information.

On lined paper, answer the questions that follow

Why were living conditions like for the poor in Victorian England?

WALT

• To develop an understanding of what

living conditions were like in the

industrial towns of the 19th century

• To investigate what housing was like

for the poor and the options available

to those who were destitute.

WILF

Grade D/F – Identify & describe some of the key problems facing the poor in 19th century towns

Grade C/B – Use a range of sources to explain why conditions were so bad

Grade A/A* Analyse the use and reliability of the sources when considering living conditions

If pictures could talk…