Lawrence: Lot ahe is part of a whole host other forces that are going on at this time. It's very tempting to look back at the big man in history who turned our turned our history down a different road altogether through what he did. And i think that's and so have a lot, i have a lot of sympathy with what sarah is suggesting as well. Laurence lance goldman: He was trying to bring scientific approach to the study of these questions. Lawrence: As we've said at the beginning, he's very interested in statistics, and he presents his survey as social science. Next week it will be edward gibbon, an outstanding figure in
Melvyn Bragg and guests discuss Charles Booth's survey, The Life and Labour of the People in London, published in 17 volumes from 1889 to 1903. Booth (1840-1916), a Liverpudlian shipping line owner, surveyed every household in London to see if it was true, as claimed, that as many as a quarter lived in poverty. He found that it was closer to a third, and that many of these were either children with no means of support or older people no longer well enough to work. He went on to campaign for an old age pension, and broadened the impact of his findings by publishing enhanced Ordnance Survey maps with the streets coloured according to the wealth of those who lived there.
The image above is of an organ grinder on a London street, circa 1893, with children dancing to the Pas de Quatre
With
Emma Griffin
Professor of Modern British History at the University of East Anglia
Sarah Wise
Adjunct Professor at the University of California
And
Lawrence Goldman
Emeritus Fellow in History at St Peter’s College, University of Oxford
Producer: Simon Tillotson