What were Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree's findings from his study 'Poverty a Study of Town Life' in some detail?

Answer 1

Rowntree's poverty line was set at 21s 8d (just over £1). This was how much he calculated was needed to live. 27% of the population of York lived around this line, according to his findings, which were gleaned from interviewing 2/3 of the population, gathering information from factory owners as to their employees' wages, and also talking to parish priests. Rowntree then divided this into two categories. He surmised that 18% of households in York lived in 'secondary poverty'; earning more than 21s 8d, but with most of this money going on rent, food, fuel and sometimes 'wasteful' uses such as alcohol. 10% of households were said to be in a state of 'primary poverty', unable to afford basic necessities such as food, fuel or rent. Rowntree also came up with the idea of the poverty cycle; a newly married couple would be well off until they had children, but their fortunes would improve when their children also became wage earners and then decreased again when they were no longer able to work.

This tied in with the findings of Charles Booth, who had done a survey on the poor in London and concluded that 31% of households there lived in poverty, including 10% who lived on the verge of starvation and often turned to crime. (It should be noted that Booth's poverty line was actually set at between 18 and 21s). Both these investigations brought to the fore the extent of poverty both within the capital and in less industrial, prosperous places such as York. By showing that poverty was circumstantial and not the fault of the individual it changed working class attitudes to social reform and made people see that the government's 'laisser faire' attitude did not work and more needed to be done.