ABSTRACT
At a meeting of the London School Board in July 1871 it was resolved that ‘the Statistical Committee be instructed to divide London into school districts containing a population of not less than 5,000 and not more than 10,000’. Such districts were the components of the larger divisions. The districts were in turn divided into blocks. The committee had to take into account the social and religious condition of each district and those adjoining, existing school accommodation, and the presence of impassable barriers or dangerous thoroughfares, in drawing up the boundaries. No other boundaries but their own would suffice: ‘boundaries to the schools such as careful parents of the children would approve.’2 The divisions that were agreed were to gain wider credibility, for they provided the framework for Charles Booth’s social surveys in the following decade. Indeed, Booth was to rely heavily on the experience of the school board visitors in conducting his surveys.
