Charles Booth & Seebohm Rowntree
introduced a far-ranging report on poverty across London, that was published as Life and Labour of the People
Booth and Rowntree both identified the main causes of poverty as being illness, unemployment and age.
Poverty in Britain
Charles Booth & Seebohm Rowntree: Independently of each other, two wealthy businessmen, Charles Booth and Seebohm Rowntree, sponsored major investigations into the extent and causes of poverty in British cities. Between them they produced two social surveys that not only shocked the British public but changed popular opinion on the causes of poverty. They helped pave the way for a whole range of government-led welfare reforms.
What both their
Rowntree showed that poverty was not a phenomenon unique to London, but he was able to refine and develop the definition of the poverty line and to introduce the concepts of primary and secondary poverty.
findings agreed on:
the conditions were such that people could not pull themselves out of poverty by their own actions alone.
up to 30% of the population of the cities were living in or below poverty levels
both the very young and the old were at risk of poverty