Study Club: Exploring the Stepney Union Case Books with Patricia Sears
Issue Media
Offer Meta Data
- Offer Number:
- 1
- On Sale:
- 12/05/2026
- Digital Edition:
- £6.99
- Print Edition:
- £10.00 (plus postage)
Summary
Join us for the June Family Tree Study Club meeting, at which Patricia Sears will be speaking on her research into the Charles Booth’s Poverty Maps and the Stepney Union Case Books. Discover how these resources can shed light on the lives of our poorest ancestors in London, and give a voice to the voiceless.
On Sale: 12/05/2026
Purchase Options
Study Club: Exploring the Stepney Union Case Books with Patricia Sears
Our Price: £10.00
What's included?
Patricia Sears writes:
Charles Booth disputed the popular opinion that poverty was chiefly caused by idleness and insobriety.
By codifying the causes of pauperisation from the data in the Stepney Union Casebooks, he produced solid statistical evidence that old age accounted for 32.8% of the workhouse population, and used this to argue the case for a universal old age pension.
Although not universal, a pension of five shillings was eventually introduced in 1908.
The Stepney Union Casebooks bring to life the often grimy, pitiful reality of 19th-century East London in all its diversity, from honest, hardworking folk to those engaged in vice and criminality.
Patricia Sears invites you to explore the maps and case books – which are freely available online.
When & where?
The meeting will take place on Zoom, on Monday 8thth June, 6.30pm. (UK time)