Sir Edwin Chadwick

Sir Edwin Chadwick 1800-1890, English social reformer. For many years an assistant to Jeremy Bentham, Chadwick applied Bentham's utilitarianism to the reform (1834) of the Poor Law and to the development of public health measures, particularly in his The Sanitary Conditions of the Labouring Population (1842). He was largely responsible for the passage of the Public Health Act of 1848, which established a board of health. Chadwick's chief writings were collected and edited by B. W. Richardson as The Health of Nations (1887).

Chadwick, Sir Edwin (1800–90) British public health reformer. A friend and disciple of Jeremy BENTHAM, he was the architect of the POOR LAW Amendment Act (1834). His report for the royal commission set up in 1833 to investigate the conditions of work of factory children resulted in the passing of the Ten Hours Act. During his term of office as Commissioner of the Board of Health (1848–54), he persuaded urban authorities to undertake major water, drainage, and slum clearance schemes to reduce disease.

Chadwick, Edwin (1800–90). Reformer. John Stuart Mill called Chadwick ‘one of the organising and contriving minds of the age’. He was born in Manchester and became a lawyer. In 1832 he was appointed to the Poor Law Commission and the following year to the commission on children in factories. His influence on both reports was great and he was appointed secretary to the Poor Law Commission in 1834, a post which brought him savage criticism. Another of his abiding interests was sanitary reform and from 1848 to 1854 he served as a commissioner on the new Board of Health. He was then rather pointedly pensioned off and his public career closed. He was hard‐working and determined, but also tactless, unhumorous, impatient, dogmatic, and over‐confident.