Chadwick, Edwin 1800 - 1890

Sir Edwin Chadwick KCB was an English social reformer. He became a barrister in 1830. He became close with John Stuart Mill and Jeremy Bentham, amongst other thinkers and reformers; this company influenced him to devote his time to sanitary reform. In 1832 he was employed by the Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Law, but he was ultimately unsatisfied with the resulting Poor Law Amendment Act of 1834. In 1838, following a serious outbreak of typhus, Chadwick demanded an enquiry into public sanitation. His report was published in 1842 and was a best-seller. His work over the next decade led to the Public Health Act of 1848, which required every town to supply water to every house, and to create drainage, sewerage, and street pavement schemes. He continued to work on sanitary reform until his retirement in 1854, after which he continued to make voluntary contribution to the field. In 1884 he was made the first president of what is now the Chartered Institute of Environmental Health. Aside from his work into sanitation, he contributed to many other areas of public policy including various aspects of educational reform. He was knighted in 1889.