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When William Booth brought the public’s attention to social conditions in 1890 he called his book, still in print, In Darkest England. An arrestingly ironic title that did much to draw attention to the savagery in which many lived not in the wilds of uncharted territory but a few minutes’ walk from the comforts of a prosperous civilization. Booth was not alone in recording the sequestered disease at the heart of Victorian society. What these men and women understood was that it was not simply a question of alleviating the effects of poverty. It was a question of confronting the root causes of malnutrition, beggary, prostitution and crime. Society had to take moral responsibility for its failure to provide for its citizens.
