Edwin Chadwick

Sir Edwin Chadwick (24 January 1800 – 6 July 1890) was an English social reformer who led the reform of the Poor Laws in England. He was also a leader in public health. He was a follower of the Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham and a friend of John Stuart Mill.

He was born on 24 January 1800 in Longsight, Manchester and moved to London when he was 10. He was a member of the Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws 1832.

After a serious outbreak of typhus in 1838, he convinced the Poor Law Board that an enquiry was required. The work was done by his friends who were doctors and he published it as Report on The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain in 1842. A lot of people bought it. It said that better water supplies and a drainage system to remove waste, would stop so many people dying. Evidence given by Dr Dyce Guthrie convinced Chadwick that every house should have a permanent water supply, rather than the intermittent supplies from standpipes that many poor people had to use. The report led to the Public Health Act 1848, which was the first time the British government took responsibility for the health of its citizens.