Liberal Reforms: Findings of Booth, Galt, Rowntree Flashcards
Who was Charles Booth?
A successful businessman and owner of a Liverpool shipping line which opened a London office in 1980.
Why was he interested in investigating poverty?
Due to his wife’s friendship with the Socialist, Beatrice Webb.
What did he believe about the statistics relating to poverty?
That the reports were exaggerated.
How did Booth conduct his study?
He attended lectures and read pamphlets and reports about poverty.
What did Booth find? Why was this surprising to him?
He had been right to think that the estimates about poverty were wrong, but he had not expected them to be underestimated.
Why was his work taken seriously?
Because he was a respected businessman who had set out to show reports as exaggerated.
He also avoided sensational reporting and concentrated on finding out the scale of the problem.
Who accounted for 1% of the poor?
The idle, criminal or underserving poor.
What is the poverty line?
When people are unable to afford decent food, clothing and accommodation.
What % of Londoners lived below it?
30%
What were Booth’s key findings about poverty and its causes?
The problems were mainly the result of low wages, casual work, trade depressions and old age or illness.
Who was Seebohm Rowntree?
He was head of the famous confectionery company in York but he was also a committed social reformer.
What was Rowntree’s book about and when was it published?
In 1901 he published a book called ‘Poverty: A Study of Town Life’. This book was based on two years’ research in his home town of York. It contained a huge amount of statistical and other kinds of evidence on wages, hours of work, diet, health and housing.
What % of York’s population was living under the poverty line?
27% of York’s population did not have the minimum to live on at some stage of their lives.
According to Rowntree what were the causes of poverty?
Unemployment of partial unemployment: 5% Death of wage earner: 10% Illness or old age: 5% Low wages: 22% Large family: 52% Other: 6%
Explain Rowntree’s main findings about York at the turn of the century.
No matter how hard they tried or worked, it was more or less impossible to get out of poverty. He learned that:
- Poverty was generally caused by old age of illness.
- Economic issues had a huge impact on the poor; ordinary people couldn’t be blamed for there circumstance.
- The measure of protection and safe guard should be introduced for the old, ill and young.
- The poor suffered from the ups and downs in Britain’s trade cycle.
