Charles Booth (1840-1916) was a philanthropist, most famed for his work on documenting the life on London in the Fin De Siecle period.
Background
Profoundly concerned by contemporary social problems, and not a pious nor even a religious man, he recognised the limitations of philanthropy and conditional charity in addressing the poverty which scarred British society. Without any commission other than his own he devised, organised, and funded one of the most comprehensive and scientific social surveys of London life that had then been undertaken. Booth also added his voice to the cause of state old age pensions as a practical instrument of social policy to alleviate destitution in old age, established as one of the commonest causes of pauperism. Simultaneously he was a successful businessman, running international interests in the leather industry and a steam shipping line.
Main Works
His most famous work is undoubtedly 'Labour and Life of the People' his study of London's society, which was first read before the Royal Statistical Society in May 1887 and May 1888. He was aided in his work by other academics of the time such as Stephen N. Fox, Clara E. Collet, David F. Schloss and H. Llewellyn Smith.
Related Links
The Charles Booth Online Archive (http://booth.lse.ac.uk/)
Ben Gidley, The Proletarian Other: Charles Booth and the Politics of Representation (http://www.goldsmiths.ac.uk/cucr/pdf/gidley.pdf) (London: Centre for Urban and Community Research, Goldsmiths College, 2000).
CharlesBooth (1840-1916) was an English philanthropist and social researcher, most famed for his work on documenting working class life in London at the end of the 19th century.
CharlesBooth was born into a wealthy Liverpool ship-owning company and in the mid-1880s, he moved the company's offices to London.
Booth also added his voice to the cause of state old age pensions as a practical instrument of social policy to alleviate destitution in old age, established as one of the commonest causes of pauperism.
CharlesBooth always seems to have had an inherent concern for the welfare of working men and as a young man he became a Radical and campaigned for the Liberal Party in Liverpool.
In 1898, Charles was instrumental in the founding of the Whitwick and Thringstone District Nursing Association, apparently in response to an outbreak of typhoid fever in Cademan Street, Whitwick.
In her memoirs, Mary Booth wrote, Charles '...was buried in the churchyard of the little church at Thringstone that he was accustomed to attend, and where two of his daughters were married.
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