Volume 2

Labour and life of the people / edited by Charles Booth ; contributors Charles Booth, Beatrice Potter [and others].

Date:
1889-1891
Catalogue details

Licence: Public Domain Mark

Credit: Labour and life of the people / edited by Charles Booth ; contributors Charles Booth, Beatrice Potter [and others]. Source: Wellcome Collection.

Provider: This material has been provided by the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh. The original may be consulted at the Royal College of Physicians of Edinburgh.

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    CHAPTER 1. INTRODUCTION. In passing from the special study of Bast London to a review of the whole Metropolis the method of inquiry into the condition of the people has been slightly changed. In dealing with East London (and afterwards with Central London and Battersea) the unit taken was the family. In extending over the larger area the street has been substituted as a working basis. Instead of noting the number of children going to school from each household with the employment and social position of its head, we have contented ourselves with stating the number of children street by street, dividing them as to class according to what is known of the parents, but giving only general particu- lars of the occupations. The result is, that the division of the population according to the conditions under which they live has been maintained, but that according to employment has been dropped. It is no improvement to omit from the statistics particulars as to employment, but in order to cover the whole ground in a reasonable time it was necessary to lighten the work. Moreover, I hope to be able to deal with the industrial side of the question later in another and more complete way. The information is otherwise the same in character as that used in Vol. I., and has been dealt with in much the same way. I subjoin exact copies of specimen pages from the note-books used, in order that the system may be understood and the right degree of value put upon the information obtained; each line represents a street: VOL. II. 2