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.

Top Lessons

• Charity and justice

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

• Faith and social action

  Booth argues that spiritual and material help belong together.

• Using evidence to persuade

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

• 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.

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