North-South social divide in England and East London.A historical perpective

in 1841 the largest proportion of working age men in emi-skilled and unskilled  occupations in England was below a line drawn between the Wash and Severn, predominantly they were agricultural labourers

by 2001 they were concentrated north of Coventry, after industry had been devastated by successive government policies

However...

 The East London Boroughs of Tower Hamlets and Newham had larger concentrations of semi- and unskilled male workers in 2001

whereas in 1841, you had to go east of the river Lea to find a similar percentage of low- and unskilled labour, and they would have mainly been agricultural labourers

Info from http://www.visionofbritain.org.uk/