Descriptive Map of London Poverty West Hampstead - Belsize Park - St Johns Wood circa 1889

Charles Booth's Descriptive map of London Poverty first published circa 1889
The streets are coloured according to the general condition of the inhabitants (as the key).
Black - Lower class. Vicious, semi criminal
Dark Blue - Very poor, casual. Chronic want.
Light Blue - Poor. 18s - 21s. a week for a moderate family.
Purple -Mixed. Some comfortable, others poor.
Pink - Fairly comfortable. Good ordinary earnings.
Red - Well-to-do. Middle class.
Yellow - Upper-middle and upper classes. Wealthy.

When this map was published:

Life expectancy in Victorian London was low. Middle-class people could expect to reach their 40s, but for labourers and the lower classes, it was still only in the mid-20s. The insanitary conditions and overcrowding meant that disease was rife. The first cholera epidemic in London killed 7,000 people in 1832. In 1871, 50,000 people died from smallpox in Britain and Ireland. The infant mortality rate was high, reaching a peak of 163 per 1,000 live births in 1899. It was not a legal requirement to register a birth until 1874, and women were often continually pregnant until menopause because each child would be lucky to survive past their fifth birthday. Chloroform was discovered to have anaesthetic properties and was used during labour. A total disregard for personal hygiene and the squalor of 19th-century London meant that waterborne diseases were rife. Diarrhoea kills thousands of children every year. The Burial Acts of 1852 and 1853 addressed the problem of the overcrowding of bodies in urban churchyards by introducing more public cemeteries, and the first cremation in the UK was in 1885.