Charles James Booth (30 March 1840 – 23 November 1916) was a British
shipowner
A ship-owner is the owner of a merchant vessel (commercial ship) and is involved in the shipping industry. In the commercial sense of the term, a shipowner is someone who equips and exploits a ship, usually for delivering cargo at a certain frei ...
,
social research
Social research is a research conducted by social scientists following a systematic plan. Social research methodologies can be classified as quantitative and qualitative.
* Quantitative designs approach social phenomena through quantifiable ...
er,
Comtean positivist, and
reformer, best known for his innovative philanthropic studies on working-class life in London towards the end of the 19th century.
During the 1860s Booth became interested in the philosophy of
Auguste Comte
Isidore Marie Auguste François Xavier Comte (; 19 January 1798 – 5 September 1857) was a French philosopher and writer who formulated the doctrine of positivism. He is often regarded as the first philosopher of science in the modern sense ...
, the founder of modern sociology, and converted to his
Religion of Humanity
Religion of Humanity (from French ''Religion de l'Humanité'' or '' église positiviste'') is a secular religion created by Auguste Comte (1798–1857), the founder of positivist philosophy. Adherents of this religion have built chapels of Huma ...
, affiliated with members of the
London Positivist Society
The London Positivist Society was an atheistic philosophical, humanist, and political circle that met in London, England, between May 1867 and 1974. The conditions of membership originally included "emancipation from theology and metaphysics and ...
, and wrote
positivist prayers. He was captivated by Comte's idea that in the future, scientific industrialists would be in control of the social leadership instead of the church ministers.
Booth's work, along with that of
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH (7 July 1871 – 7 October 1954) was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three York studies of poverty conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951.
The fi ...
, influenced
government policy
Public policy is an institutionalized proposal or a decided set of elements like laws, regulations, guidelines, and actions to solve or address relevant and real-world problems, guided by a conception and often implemented by programs. Public p ...
regarding poverty in the early 20th century and helped initiate
Old Age pensions
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
and
free school meals
A school meal or school lunch (also known as hot lunch, a school dinner, or school breakfast) is a meal provided to students and sometimes teachers at a school, typically in the middle or beginning of the school day. Countries around the world ...
for the poorest children. In addition, his investigation would also demonstrate how poverty was influenced by religion, education, and administration.
Booth is often compared to
Seebohm Rowntree
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH (7 July 1871 – 7 October 1954) was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three York studies of poverty conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951.
The fi ...
due to their concepts on poverty. Even though Rowntree's work draws upon Booth's investigation, many writers on poverty generally turn their attention towards Rowntree's because his concept clearly addressed the problem of defining a "subsistence" level of poverty. Both Booth and Rowntree were positivists; however, many differences between Booth and Rowntree's methodology existed. While Booth classified people by their source of income, Rowntree made distinctions through class and specifically categorised groups by their economic relationships.
Booth is best known for his multi-volume book ''Life and Labour of the People in London'' (1902), which focuses on the statistics he collected regarding poverty in London. ''Life and Labour'' "discusses a range of social conditions in which it reported that it appeared people are likely to be poor or on the margins of poverty." Booth is also recognised for influencing the transition from the Victorian Age to the 20th century. Due to his investigations on poverty, some honor Charles Booth as one of the founding fathers of social administration, and find his work critical when studying social policy.
Biography
Charles Booth was born in
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
, Lancashire on 30 March 1840 to Charles Booth and Emily Fletcher. His father was a wealthy shipowner and corn merchant as well as being a prominent
Unitarian.
He attended the
Royal Institution School in Liverpool before being apprenticed in the family business at the age of sixteen.
He joined his brother, Alfred Booth, in the
leather trade in 1862 and they subsequently established a successful
shipping firm together, and Charles remained actively involved with it until his retirement in 1912.
Booth became alienated from the dominant, nonconformist business class of Liverpool into which he had been born. Then on 19 April 1871, Charles Booth married Mary Macaulay, and the couple settled in London. The niece of the historian
Thomas Babington Macaulay
Thomas Babington Macaulay, 1st Baron Macaulay, (; 25 October 1800 – 28 December 1859) was a British historian and Whig politician, who served as the Secretary at War between 1839 and 1841, and as the Paymaster-General between 1846 and 184 ...
,
she was a cousin of the
Fabian socialist
The Fabian Society is a British socialist organisation whose purpose is to advance the principles of social democracy and democratic socialism via gradualist and reformist effort in democracies, rather than by revolutionary overthrow. The Fa ...
and author,
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...
. Mary had a reputation for being well-educated and intelligent. Also, Mary was an advisor to Booth in his business affairs and played an active role in contributing to Booth's survey on London life and labour.
Mary and Booth in total had 7 children, 3 sons, and 4 daughters.
His eldest daughter Antonia married
the Hon
''The Honourable'' (British English) or ''The Honorable'' (American English; see spelling differences) (abbreviation: ''Hon.'', ''Hon'ble'', or variations) is an honorific style that is used as a prefix before the names or titles of certain ...
Sir
''Sir'' is a formal honorific address in English for men, derived from Sire in the High Middle Ages. Both are derived from the old French "Sieur" (Lord), brought to England by the French-speaking Normans, and which now exist in French only as ...
Malcolm Macnaghten, and others married into the
Ritchie and
Gore Browne families.
Career
Booth's father died in 1860, leaving him in control of the family company. He entered the skins and leather business with his elder brother
Alfred
Alfred may refer to:
Arts and entertainment
*''Alfred J. Kwak'', Dutch-German-Japanese anime television series
* ''Alfred'' (Arne opera), a 1740 masque by Thomas Arne
* ''Alfred'' (Dvořák), an 1870 opera by Antonín Dvořák
*"Alfred (Interlu ...
, and they set up
Alfred Booth and Company
Alfred Booth and Company was a British trading and shipping company that was founded in 1866 and traded for more than a century. It was founded in Liverpool, England, by two brothers, Alfred and Charles Booth. It grew into a significant merch ...
with offices in Liverpool and New York City using a £20,000 inheritance.
In
1865
Events
January–March
* January 4 – The New York Stock Exchange opens its first permanent headquarters at Broad Street (Manhattan), 10-12 Broad near Wall Street, in New York City.
* January 13 – American Civil War : Sec ...
Booth ran for
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
as the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
candidate
A candidate, or nominee, is the prospective recipient of an award or honor, or a person seeking or being considered for some kind of position; for example:
* to be elected to an office — in this case a candidate selection procedure occurs.
* t ...
for
Toxteth
Toxteth is an inner-city area of Liverpool in the historic county of Lancashire and the ceremonial county of Merseyside.
Toxteth is located to the south of Liverpool city centre, bordered by Aigburth, Canning, Dingle, and Edge Hill.
The area w ...
, Liverpool, but was unsuccessful.
After learning the shipping trades, Booth was able to persuade Alfred and his sister Emily to invest in steamships and established a service to
Pará
Pará is a Federative units of Brazil, state of Brazil, located in northern Brazil and traversed by the lower Amazon River. It borders the Brazilian states of Amapá, Maranhão, Tocantins (state), Tocantins, Mato Grosso, Amazonas (Brazilian state) ...
, Maranhão, and
Ceará
Ceará (, pronounced locally as or ) is one of the 26 states of Brazil, located in the northeastern part of the country, on the Atlantic coast. It is the eighth-largest Brazilian State by population and the 17th by area. It is also one of the ...
in Brazil. Then in 1866 Booth and Alfred commenced the start of a shipping service between Brazil and Europe called Booth Steamship Company.
Booth himself went on the first voyage to Brazil on 14 February 1866. He was also involved in the building of a harbor at
Manaus
Manaus () is the capital and largest city of the Brazilian state of Amazonas. It is the seventh-largest city in Brazil, with an estimated 2020 population of 2,219,580 distributed over a land area of about . Located at the east center of the s ...
which overcame seasonal fluctuations in water levels. Booth described this as his "monument" (to shipping) when he visited Manaus for the last time in 1912. Booth would write letters to his wife describing the business problems that would rise such as personnel management, decision making, and factory relocation this laid a foundation for the fundamentals of business ethics. Booth shipping line biggest rival was R. Singlehurst and Company, but Booth kept calm while managing business affairs.
Social research
Influenced earlier by
positivism
Positivism is an empiricist philosophical theory that holds that all genuine knowledge is either true by definition or positive—meaning ''a posteriori'' facts derived by reason and logic from sensory experience.John J. Macionis, Linda M. G ...
, he embarked in 1886 on the major survey of London life and labour for which he became famous and is commonly regarded as initiating the systematic study of poverty in Britain. Booth was critical of the existing statistical data on poverty. By analyzing
census
A census is the procedure of systematically acquiring, recording and calculating information about the members of a given population. This term is used mostly in connection with national population and housing censuses; other common censuses incl ...
returns he argued that they were unsatisfactory and later sat on a committee in 1891 which suggested improvements that could be made to them.
Due to the scale of the survey, results were published serially but it took over fifteen years before the full seventeen volume edition was published. His work on the study and his concern with the problems of poverty led to an involvement in campaigning for old-age pensions and promoting the decasualisation of labour.
Booth publicly criticised the claims of
H. M. Hyndman
Henry Mayers Hyndman (; 7 March 1842 – 20 November 1921) was an English writer, politician and socialist.
Originally a conservative, he was converted to socialism by Karl Marx's '' Communist Manifesto'' and launched Britain's first left-wing ...
, the leader of the
Social Democratic Federation
The Social Democratic Federation (SDF) was established as Britain's first organised socialist political party by H. M. Hyndman, and had its first meeting on 7 June 1881. Those joining the SDF included William Morris, George Lansbury, James Con ...
, Britain's first socialist party. In the ''
Pall Mall Gazette
''The Pall Mall Gazette'' was an evening newspaper founded in London on 7 February 1865 by George Murray Smith; its first editor was Frederick Greenwood. In 1921, '' The Globe'' merged into ''The Pall Mall Gazette'', which itself was absorbed int ...
'' of 1885, Hyndman stated that 25% of Londoners lived in abject poverty. The survey of life and labour began with a pilot study in
Tower Hamlets
The London Borough of Tower Hamlets is a London borough covering much of the traditional East End. It was formed in 1965 from the merger of the former metropolitan boroughs of Stepney, Poplar, and Bethnal Green. 'Tower Hamlets' was originally ...
. Booth then hired numerous researchers to assist with the full study of the whole of London, which investigated the three main topics of poverty, occupations, and religion. Among his researchers were his cousin
Beatrice Potter
Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...
(Beatrice Webb) and the chapter on women's work was conducted by the budding economist
Clara Collet
Clara Collet (10 September 1860 – 3 August 1948) was an economist and British civil servant. She was one of the first women graduates from the University of London and was pivotal in many reforms which greatly improved working conditions and pa ...
. This research, which looked at incidences of pauperism in the
East End of London
The East End of London, often referred to within the London area simply as the East End, is the historic core of wider East London, east of the Roman and medieval walls of the City of London and north of the River Thames. It does not have uni ...
, showed that 35% were living in abject poverty – even higher than the original figure. This work was published under the title ''Life and Labour of the People'' in 1889. A second volume, entitled ''Labour and Life of the People'', covering the rest of London, appeared in 1891. Booth also popularised the idea of a "
poverty line
The poverty threshold, poverty limit, poverty line or breadline is the minimum level of income deemed adequate in a particular country. The poverty line is usually calculated by estimating the total cost of one year's worth of necessities for t ...
", a concept conceived by the
London School Board
The School Board for London, commonly known as the London School Board (LSB), was an institution of local government and the first directly elected body covering the whole of London.
The Elementary Education Act 1870 was the first to provide for ...
. Booth set this line at 10 to 20 shillings a week, which he considered to be the minimum amount necessary for a family of 4 or 5 people to subsist.
After the first two volumes were published Booth expanded his research. This investigation was carried out by Booth himself with his team of researchers. Nonetheless, Booth continued to oversee his successful shipping business which funded his philanthropic work. The fruit of this research was a second expanded edition of his original work, published as ''
Life and Labour of the People in London
''Life and Labour of the People in London'' was a multi-volume book by Charles Booth which provided a survey of the lives and occupations of the working class of late 19th century London. The first edition was published in two volumes as ''Lif ...
'' in nine volumes between 1892 and 1897. A third edition (now expanded to seventeen volumes) appeared in 1902–3.
Booth used his work to argue for the introduction of
Old Age Pension
A pension (, from Latin ''pensiō'', "payment") is a fund into which a sum of money is added during an employee's employment years and from which payments are drawn to support the person's retirement from work in the form of periodic payments ...
s which he described as "limited socialism". Booth argued that such reforms would help prevent a socialist revolution from occurring in Britain. Booth was far from tempted by the ideals of socialism, but had sympathy with the working classes and, as part of his investigations, he took lodgings with working-class families and recorded his thoughts and findings in his diaries.
The
London School of Economics
, mottoeng = To understand the causes of things
, established =
, type = Public research university
, endowment = £240.8 million (2021)
, budget = £391.1 millio ...
keeps his work on an online searchable
database
In computing, a database is an organized collection of data stored and accessed electronically. Small databases can be stored on a file system, while large databases are hosted on computer clusters or cloud storage. The design of databases sp ...
, planned to include Booth's unpublished notebooks, recommended by participants in Melvyn Bragg's BBC Radio broadcast on his work (10 June 2021
as vivid narratives of Booth's methods and personal response to his discoveries, but omitted from his formal publications.
London poverty maps
![Booth poverty map colour key](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/3c/Booth_poverty_map_colour_key.jpg)
From 1886 to 1903, while Charles Booth was conducting his landmark survey on the life and labour of London's poorest inhabitants he created poverty maps to illustrate the conditions of the lives of these people. Booth's maps were based on observations of differences in lifestyle and focused on qualitative factors: food, clothing, shelter, and relative deprivation. Booth and his team of researchers visited every street in London to assess each household's class. The household's class was determined by the letters A–H, with A–D constituting want, and E-H representing comfort. Booth's maps colour-coded every street to determine and demonstrate the level of poverty or comfort. The colour-coding was also used to highlight the social conditions of the households on the streets. The objective was to expose to Victorian society the social evil, which is the problem of poverty. The maps have a strong impact on the poverty debate. Many who analyzed the maps noted how there existed greater concentrations of poverty south of the Thames, compared to the East End Slums. The colour palette of the maps also played a large role in how poverty was viewed. Areas with high concentrations of poverty were given dense and dark colours, while areas that were considered comfortable were given bright colours such as pink, blue, and red. The maps were attempting to demonstrate that the issue of poverty was a manageable problem.
"Religious Influences" series
During 1897, Charles Booth had spent a significant amount of money and a decade of his life studying the life conditions of the poor of late Victorian London. When reaching the final years of his survey, Booth asked himself this question: "What role can religion play in these conditions?" This question then led to 6 years of him and his team conducting 1,800 interviews focusing on London's religious and secular leaders. With all the information collected Booth and his team created seven volumes called the "Religious Influences" series. The series showed how there was less conflict in the late 19th-century debate over "charity organisation". Booth and his team of investigators discovered how the clergymen, women, and working people enjoyed engaging in the strict allocation of charity. The churchmen had the responsibility of selecting who needed charity. Many believed that overindulgence would lead to corruption. The Booth team were advocates for charity organisations but also believed that to "form character" that it would be beneficial to give little to nothing. The Booth interviews focused more on the money that the churchmen gave to those in poverty and had no current job than the actual influence on the church's "religious influence". Booth believed that the charity the church was giving to the poor was being wasted. Therefore, towards the end of his survey, Booth makes the proposition to abolish church relief work, and that officials would have the responsibility to assist those who would benefit greatly.
Methodology
For the purposes of poverty measurement, Booth divided the working population into eight classes, from the poorest to the best off, labeled A–H. These categories summarised economic circumstances but also had a moral dimension, with "A" representing the "feckless, deviant or criminal" groups.
According to Professor Paul Spicker
"it is important to note that Charles Booth's studies of poverty are widely misrepresented in the literature of social policy. His work is commonly bracketed with
Seebohm Rowntree, Rowntree's but his methods were quite different. His definition of poverty was explicitly relative; he based the description of poverty on class rather than income. He did not attempt to define need nor to identify subsistence levels of income on the basis of minimum needs; his “poverty line” was used as an indicator of poverty, not a definition. His approach was to identify the sorts of condition in which people were poor and to describe those conditions in a variety of ways. To this end he used a wide range of qualitative and quantitative methods in an attempt to add depth and weight to his descriptions of poverty."
Criticisms
The survey has been negatively criticised for its methodology. Booth used school board visitors—those who undertook to ensure the attendance of children at school—to collect information on the circumstances of families. However, his extrapolation from these findings to families without school-age children was speculative. Moreover, his "definitions" of the poverty levels of household "classes" were general descriptive categories that did not equate to specific criteria. Although the seventeen volumes were dense with often fascinating detail, it was primarily descriptive rather than analytical.
Booth's 1902 study included antisemitic references to the impact of Jewish immigration, comparing it to the "slow rising of a flood" and that "no Gentile could live in the same house with these poor foreign Jews, and even as neighbors they are unpleasant; and, since people of this race, though sometimes quarrelsome amongst themselves, are extremely gregarious and sociable, each small street or group of houses invaded tends to become entirely Jewish".
Booth has also received criticism for his London Poverty Maps, showing in dark and opaque colours the houses and streets where poor people lived. The palette made the areas appear as cancer or a disease to be eradicated, creating a negative connotation for that community. Nevertheless, the scaling of the map made it appear that fixing the problem would be manageable.
Impact and legacy
''Life and Labour of the People in London'' can be seen as one of the founding texts of British sociology, drawing on both
quantitative
Quantitative may refer to:
* Quantitative research, scientific investigation of quantitative properties
* Quantitative analysis (disambiguation)
* Quantitative verse, a metrical system in poetry
* Statistics, also known as quantitative analysis ...
(statistical) methods and
qualitative methods (particularly
ethnography
Ethnography (from Greek ''ethnos'' "folk, people, nation" and ''grapho'' "I write") is a branch of anthropology and the systematic study of individual cultures. Ethnography explores cultural phenomena from the point of view of the subject o ...
). It influenced
Jane Addams
Laura Jane Addams (September 6, 1860 May 21, 1935) was an American settlement activist, reformer, social worker, sociologist, public administrator, and author. She was an important leader in the history of social work and women's suffrage ...
and other
Hull House
Hull House was a settlement house in Chicago, Illinois, United States that was co-founded in 1889 by Jane Addams and Ellen Gates Starr. Located on the Near West Side of the city, Hull House (named after the original house's first owner Cha ...
reformers,
W. E. B. Du Bois, the
Chicago School of sociology (notably the work of
Robert E. Park
Robert Ezra Park (February 14, 1864 – February 7, 1944) was an American urban sociologist who is considered to be one of the most influential figures in early U.S. sociology. Park was a pioneer in the field of sociology, changing it from a pas ...
), and the
community studies
Community studies is an academic field drawing on both sociology and anthropology and the social research methods of ethnography and participant observation in the study of community. In academic settings around the world, community studies is v ...
associated with the
Institute of Community Studies
Early years
The Institute for Community Studies is a community-led research and evidence centre based in Bethnal Green, East London. Originally founded in 1953 by Michael Young as the Institute ''of'' Community Studies, it is probably best kno ...
in East London.
Booth's poverty maps revealed that there is a spatial component to poverty as well as an environmental context of poverty. Before his maps, environmental explanations of poverty mainly interested health professionals; Booth brought environmental issues into an empirical sociological investigation.
In addition to Booth's influence on the field of sociology, he influenced other academics as well.
Hubert Llewellyn-Smith's repeat London survey was inspired by Booth.
Booth's work served as an impetus for
Seebohm Rowntree
Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, CH (7 July 1871 – 7 October 1954) was an English sociological researcher, social reformer and industrialist. He is known in particular for his three York studies of poverty conducted in 1899, 1935, and 1951.
The fi ...
's; he also influenced
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...
and
Helen Bosanquet
Helen Bosanquet (''née'' Dendy; 10 February 1860 – 7 April 1925) was an English social theorist, social reformer, and economist concerned with poverty, social policy, working-class life, and modern social work practices. Helen worked closely ...
.
The importance of Booth's work in
social statistics
Social statistics is the use of statistical measurement systems to study human behavior in a social environment. This can be accomplished through polling a group of people, evaluating a subset of data obtained about a group of people, or by obser ...
was recognised by the
Royal Statistical Society
The Royal Statistical Society (RSS) is an established statistical society. It has three main roles: a British learned society for statistics, a professional body for statisticians and a charity which promotes statistics for the public good.
...
when in 1892 he was elected President and was awarded its first
Guy Medal
The Guy Medals are awarded by the Royal Statistical Society in three categories; Gold, Silver and Bronze. The Silver and Bronze medals are awarded annually. The Gold Medal was awarded every three years between 1987 and 2011, but is awarded biennia ...
in Gold. He was elected a
Fellow of the Royal Society
Fellowship of the Royal Society (FRS, ForMemRS and HonFRS) is an award granted by the judges of the Royal Society of London to individuals who have made a "substantial contribution to the improvement of natural science, natural knowledge, incl ...
in 1899.
Politics
Booth had some involvement in politics, although he canvassed unsuccessfully as the
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
parliamentary candidate in the
General Election of 1865. Following the
Conservative Party
The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right.
Political parties called The Conservative P ...
victory in municipal elections in 1866, his interest in active politics waned. This result changed Booth's attitudes, and he foresaw that he could influence people more by educating the electorate, rather than by being a representative in Parliament.
He
declined subsequent offers from
PM William Ewart Gladstone
William Ewart Gladstone ( ; 29 December 1809 – 19 May 1898) was a British statesman and Liberal politician. In a career lasting over 60 years, he served for 12 years as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom, spread over four non-conse ...
of elevation to the
peerage with a seat in the
House of Lords
The House of Lords, also known as the House of Peers, is the Bicameralism, upper house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. Membership is by Life peer, appointment, Hereditary peer, heredity or Lords Spiritual, official function. Like the ...
. Booth engaged in
Joseph Chamberlain
Joseph Chamberlain (8 July 1836 – 2 July 1914) was a British statesman who was first a radical Liberal, then a Liberal Unionist after opposing home rule for Ireland, and eventually served as a leading imperialist in coalition with the Cons ...
's
Birmingham Education League, a survey which looked into levels of work and education in Liverpool. The survey found that 25,000 children in Liverpool were neither in school or work.
While Booth's attitudes towards poverty might make him seem fairly left-wing, Booth became more conservative in his views in later life. While some of his investigators, such as
Beatrice Webb
Martha Beatrice Webb, Baroness Passfield, (née Potter; 22 January 1858 – 30 April 1943) was an English sociologist, economist, socialist, labour historian and social reformer. It was Webb who coined the term ''collective bargaining''. She ...
, became Socialists as a result of their research, Booth was critical of the way in which the
Liberal Government Liberal government may refer to:
Australia
In Australian politics, a Liberal government may refer to the following governments administered by the Liberal Party of Australia:
* Menzies Government (1949–66), several Australian ministries under S ...
appeared to support Trade Unions after winning the
1906 General Election.
Later life
![CHARLES BOOTH 1840-1916 PIONEER IN SOCIAL RESEARCH lived here](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/2/2d/CHARLES_BOOTH_1840-1916_PIONEER_IN_SOCIAL_RESEARCH_lived_here.jpg)
Booth purchased
William Holman Hunt
William Holman Hunt (2 April 1827 – 7 September 1910) was an English painter and one of the founders of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood. His paintings were notable for their great attention to detail, vivid colour, and elaborate symbolism. ...
's painting ''
''The Light of The World'''', which he donated to
St Paul's Cathedral
St Paul's Cathedral is an Anglican cathedral in London and is the seat of the Bishop of London. The cathedral serves as the mother church of the Diocese of London. It is on Ludgate Hill at the highest point of the City of London and is a Grad ...
in 1908.
Early in 1912 Booth stood down as chairman of Alfred Booth and Company in favor of his nephew
Alfred Allen Booth
Sir Alfred Allen Booth, 1st Baronet (17 September 1872 – 13 March 1948) was a British businessman and shipowner. A scion of the Booths of Dunham Massey, Cheshire, his great-grandfather moved to Liverpool in the mid-18th century.
Booth was cr ...
but in 1915 returned willingly to work under wartime exigencies despite growing evidence of heart disease.
The Booth family moved to
Grace Dieu Manor
Grace Dieu Manor is a 19th-century country house near Thringstone in Leicestershire, England, occupied by Grace Dieu Manor School until 2020. It is a Grade II listed building.
Early history
The house is named after the adjacent Grace Dieu Pri ...
near
Thringstone
Thringstone is a village in north-west Leicestershire, England about north of Coalville. It lies within the area of the English National Forest.
Until 1875, Thringstone had been a township within the ancient parish of Whitwick. The township ...
, Leicestershire in 1886, and this is where Charles retired to. Before he died he hosted many family gatherings in order to be surrounded by his friends, children and grandchildren.
He died on 23 November 1916 of a stroke and was buried in Saint Andrew's churchyard. A memorial dedicated to him stands on Thringstone village green, and a
blue plaque
A blue plaque is a permanent sign installed in a public place in the United Kingdom and elsewhere to commemorate a link between that location and a famous person, event, or former building on the site, serving as a historical marker. The term i ...
has been erected on his house in
South Kensington
South Kensington, nicknamed Little Paris, is a district just west of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with ...
: 6
Grenville Place.
Selected works
*''Life and Labour of the People'', 1st ed., Vol. I. (1889).
*''Labour and Life of the People'', 1st ed., Vol II. (1891).
*''
Life and Labour of the People in London
''Life and Labour of the People in London'' was a multi-volume book by Charles Booth which provided a survey of the lives and occupations of the working class of late 19th century London. The first edition was published in two volumes as ''Lif ...
'', 2nd ed., (1892–97); 9 vols.
*''Life and Labour of the People in London'', 3rd ed., (1902–03); 17 vols.
See also
*
Booth baronets
There have been three baronetcies created for persons with the surname Booth, one in the Baronetage of England and two in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. The 1916 creation remains extant, the 1835 creation became extinct in 1896 and the 1 ...
*
Alfred Booth and Company
Alfred Booth and Company was a British trading and shipping company that was founded in 1866 and traded for more than a century. It was founded in Liverpool, England, by two brothers, Alfred and Charles Booth. It grew into a significant merch ...
References
Notes
Citations
Sources
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
External links
Charles Booth's London: Poverty maps and police notebooks LSE LSE may refer to:
Computing
* LSE (programming language), a computer programming language
* LSE, Latent sector error, a media assessment measure related to the hard disk drive storage technology
* Language-Sensitive Editor, a text editor used ...
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Charles Booth Papers at Senate House Library, University of LondonCharles Booth and poverty mapping in late nineteenth century London Middlesex University Business School
{{DEFAULTSORT:Booth, Charles
1840 births
1916 deaths
19th-century British philanthropists
Academics from Liverpool
British social reformers
English male non-fiction writers
English non-fiction writers
English philanthropists
English reformers
Fellows of the Royal Society
Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom
Packet (sea transport)
People educated at the Royal Institution School
People from Thringstone
People in public health
Presidents of the Royal Statistical Society