* Charles Booth and the poor in London.

[Gowermick]

Many of you, like me, will know about Charles Booth and his Poverty Maps of London. These were colour coded maps giving an indication of how wealthy/poor the occupants were.

What I and many others don’t realise, is that in his research to produce the maps, he interviewed many local familes to gather necessary information and in doing so, obtained quite detailed genealogical details about the various household that were interviwed. This information was written into notebooks, which can actually be viewed/downloaded for free. (just google Charles Booth)

If you’re lucky (unlucky for the families?) like me, you’ll find an entry covering one of your ancestor’s families. In my case, this detailed the members of the family, their lives, their requests for parish relief, their appearances in the poorhouse, and even personal descriptions of some of the family members. ( one of mine had a son described as a drunkard and nasty piece of work. I also found adult children that I hadn’t known about, as well as identifying some of the daughter’s married names.

Well worth a look.