In Darkest England and the Way Out

Summary

In Darkest England and the Way Out, published in London in October 1890 by William Booth, founder of the Salvation Army, is both a survey of poverty in England and a detailed plan to relieve it. Its title deliberately echoes the explorer Henry Morton Stanley's In Darkest Africa, published earlier that year, and asks why the nation was so concerned with distant Africa while a 'darkest England' of misery lay at home. The journalist W. T. Stead helped Booth prepare the book. Part One, The Darkness, describes what Booth calls the 'Submerged Tenth', the roughly three million people he estimated were living in destitution, crime or vice. Drawing partly on Charles Booth's contemporary survey of London (no relation), he devotes chapters to the homeless, the out-of-work, the vicious, the criminals and the children of the lost, including first-hand accounts gathered by Salvation Army officers of men sleeping on the Thames Embankment. He sets out a famous 'Cab Horse Charter': every person should be at least as well cared for as a London cab horse, with shelter, food and work. Part Two, Deliverance, sets out a scheme of three linked 'colonies'. The City Colony would provide shelters, food depots, labour bureaus and workshops in towns. The Farm Colony would train people in agriculture in the countryside. The Over-Sea Colony would help them emigrate to the British colonies. Further proposals include rescue homes for women, a missing persons bureau, a poor man's bank, legal aid, a matrimonial bureau and help for released prisoners. Booth insists that material help and spiritual conversion must go together. The book closes with estimates of the money needed and an appeal for public support. It was a bestseller, and the funds it raised allowed the Salvation Army to establish shelters, a farm colony at Hadleigh in Essex and other projects. Critics, including T. H. Huxley, attacked the scheme as autocratic or unworkable, while others praised its practical compassion. It remains an important document in the history of social welfare and Christian social action.

Plot or Argument

• Part I: The Darkness

  Why 'Darkest England'; the Submerged Tenth; the homeless, the unemployed, the vicious, criminals and children.

• The Cab Horse Charter

  Booth's minimum standard of shelter, food and work for every person.

• Part II: The City Colony

  Shelters, food depots, labour bureaus and workshops.

• Part II: The Farm and Over-Sea Colonies

  Agricultural training and assisted emigration.

• More crusades and conclusion

  Rescue homes, legal aid and other services; the costs and an appeal.

Lessons

• Charity and justice

  Booth combines immediate relief with a plan to restore people to work and independence.

  • What is the purpose of the Cab Horse Charter?
  • Does Booth treat poverty as caused by individuals, by society or by both?

• Faith and social action

  Booth argues that spiritual and material help belong together.

  • Why does Booth insist on conversion as well as relief?
  • What are the strengths and risks of religious organizations providing social services?

• Using evidence to persuade

  Booth combines statistics, case studies and reports from officers to make his case.

  • Which kind of evidence in the book is most persuasive to you?
  • How can statistics about poverty be misleading?

• For the Christian reader

  William and Catherine Booth founded the Salvation Army to preach the gospel to the poor and to meet their physical needs together, reflecting James 2:15–17. Booth's plan for city, farm and overseas colonies shaped the Army's social work, which continues around the world. Students can consider how Christians should hold together evangelism and practical mercy.

  • Why did Booth believe that the gospel and practical help belong together?
  • Which parts of Booth's plan are still carried out by the Salvation Army today?

Context

Late Victorian Britain saw growing concern over urban poverty, fuelled by works such as Andrew Mearns's The Bitter Cry of Outcast London (1883) and Charles Booth's survey of London life and labour.

Composition

Booth published the book in October 1890, the month his wife Catherine died. Stanley's In Darkest Africa had appeared that June.

Reception

The book's success funded new Salvation Army social programmes in Britain and abroad. Its proposals anticipated later debates on unemployment relief and labour exchanges, though historians differ on its direct influence on state welfare.

Comparisons

• Oliver Twist

  Dickens's novel exposes the workhouse and criminal underworld Booth describes.

• Hard Times

  Dickens's industrial novel criticizes the attitudes toward the poor that Booth challenges.

• Bleak House

  Jo the crossing-sweeper is a fictional member of the Submerged Tenth.

• A Christmas Carol

  Dickens's tale of conversion leading to charity anticipates Booth's union of faith and relief.

• Sermons on Several Occasions and Primitive Physick

  Booth's Methodist roots shaped his combination of preaching and practical help.

• The Communist Manifesto

  A contemporary radical diagnosis of poverty with a very different remedy.

• An Enquiry into the Obligations of Christians to Use Means for the Conversion of the Heathens

  Carey's 1792 plan likewise turned Christian conviction into an organized society.

Quotes

For Students

A reading companion for classical Christian high school students. See the student guide.

Reading Guide

Watch for

• The comparison with Stanley's Africa.
• The definition of the Submerged Tenth.
• The Cab Horse Charter.
• The three-colony scheme.

Key terms and names

Submerged Tenth

Booth's name for the destitute tenth of the population.

Colony

In Booth's scheme, a settlement or institution for rehabilitation.

Labour bureau

An office matching workers with jobs.

Salvation Army

Evangelical movement founded by Booth, organized on military lines.

Seminar Questions

1. Comprehension What are the three colonies in Booth's scheme?
2. Comprehension What does a cab horse have that Booth says many people lack?
3. Comprehension What is the Submerged Tenth, according to Booth?
4. Interpretation Why does Booth compare England to 'darkest Africa'? What does the comparison assume?
5. Interpretation Why does Booth insist that help must be accompanied by conversion?
6. Big Question What does a society owe its poorest members?

Faith Connections

• Matthew 25:35-40 (Scripture)

  'I was an hungred, and ye gave me meat': care for the poor as care for Christ.

• Luke 15 (Scripture)

  The parables of the lost, behind Booth's language of rescue.

• Charles Booth, Life and Labour of the People in London (Great Conversation)

  The contemporary survey Booth drew on.

Logic and Rhetoric

Central argument: Christian love requires both rescuing people's souls and lifting them out of poverty through organized, practical help, guaranteeing at least the minimum of food, shelter and work.

Rhetorical device: extended analogy. The 'darkest England' and cab horse comparisons make abstract poverty vivid.

Debate: Resolved: that charities like the Salvation Army are better placed than governments to help the poor.

Memory Work

This Submerged Tenth--is it, then, beyond the reach of the nine-tenths in the midst of whom they live, and around whose homes they rot and die?

The Cab Horse is a very real illustration of poor broken-down humanity; he usually falls down because of overwork and underfeeding.

Writing Prompts

Essay: Evaluate Booth's diagnosis of poverty and his proposed remedy in In Darkest England.

Comparison with Hard Times: Compare Booth's and Dickens's views on the causes and remedies of poverty.

Creative Prompts

• Essay

  Draft a modern 'Cab Horse Charter' listing the minimum that every person in your community should be guaranteed.

• Essay

  Write a short investigative report in Booth's style about a social problem in your area, with evidence and a proposal.

Further Reading

• In Darkest Africa, Henry M. Stanley

  The travel book whose title Booth echoed.

• Life and Labour of the People in London, Charles Booth