The Charles Booth archive at LSE Library contains a possible thirteenth sheet, covering Woolwich (archive reference number: Booth/A/49). The 12 Maps Descriptive of London Poverty, 1898-9 cover an area of London from Hammersmith in the west, to Greenwich in the east, and from Hampstead in the north to Clapham in the south. The compilers of the map also sometimes used a combination of colours to indicate that the street 'contains a fair proportion of each of the classes represented by the respective colours'. This is a useful aid to interpretation where the shades may be similar to neighbouring streets. If you zoom in to view these colours on the map hatching becomes apparent. Good ordinary earnings.' - are not solid blocks of colours. a week for a moderate family.' - and pink - 'Fairly comfortable. It is worth noting that the light blue - 'Poor. This allows general trends across the city to be made apparent, although it can make identification at the street level more difficult.

The colours of adjacent classes have not been chosen to emphasise distinction: in fact, similar classes have similar colours.

It can be difficult to interpret the colours used on the maps. The seven colour codes on the maps do not correspond directly to the poverty classification in the published survey: in the first volume of the poverty series in the final edition of Life and Labour of the People in London, Booth sets out an expanded poverty classification. Good ordinary earnings.Ī combination of colours, such as dark blue and black, or pink and red, indicates that the street contains a proportion of each of the classes represented by those colours. a week for a moderate family.įairly comfortable. The seven classes are described on the legend to the maps as follows: Classification An early example of social cartography, each street is coloured to indicate the income and social class of its inhabitants.

The Maps Descriptive of London Poverty are perhaps the most distinctive product of Charles Booth's Inquiry into Life and Labour in London (1886-1903). A section of map including Battersea and Wandsworth Bridge

Bath england social booth