What is Edwin Chadwick?
'''Sir Edwin Chadwick''' (24 January 1800 – 6 July 1890) was an English social reformer who led the reform of the [[Poor Law]]<nowiki/>s in England. He was also a leader in [[public health]]. He was a follower of the [[Utilitarianism|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. <ref>{{cite book|last=Finer|first=Samuel Edward|title=The Life and Times of Sir Edwin Chadwick|year=1952|publisher=Taylor & Francis|isbn=978-0-416-17350-5 |page=6|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=JycOAAAAQAAJ&pg=PA6|edition=Reprint}}</ref> 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.<ref>{{Cite web|title=Chadwick's Report on Sanitary Conditions|url=https://victorianweb.org/history/chadwick2.html|access-date=2023-07-09|website=victorianweb.org}}</ref> 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. ==References== {{reflist}} {{DEFAULTSORT:Chadwick, Edwin}} [[Category:1800 births]] [[Category:1890 deaths]] [[Category:Public health]] [[Category:English people]]