Introduction to Charles Booths' London

About this course

The course uses Charles Booth’s Poverty Map and related historical photographs, sketches and contemporary eyewitness accounts to examine life in late-nineteenth-century London. Sessions consider areas including Lambeth, Soho, Whitechapel and Spitalfields, Bethnal Green, Covent Garden, Docklands and Lisson Grove, alongside themes such as working-class politics, women’s economic lives, religion, immigration, childhood, schooling and London trades. Illustrated lectures and class discussion break down Booth’s extensive survey and compare accounts that support or challenge his view of the city.

What you'll learn

• Explain the basic concepts underpinning Booth’s work
• Identify the main socio-economic structures of late-nineteenth-century London
• Distinguish political strands of thought current during the period
• Recognise characteristics of different London localities
• Use the supplied bibliography and secondary reading list to pursue further study

Is this course right for you?

This course is intended for beginner learners and requires no previous knowledge or specific skills. Participation involves engaging with illustrated lectures and class discussion, including material that may be distressing in its treatment of poverty and social conditions.

• No previous knowledge or skills are required
• The course includes class discussion as well as illustrated lectures
• Some historical data and accounts may be distressing

Before you go

• Handouts are supplied
• Learners are directed to the LSE’s Booth Poverty Map website, which provides free text and images