How important was the role played by Edwin Chadwick in improving public health services in towns in the nineteenth century?

Authors Avatar

How important was the role played by Edwin Chadwick in improving public health services in towns in the nineteenth century?

Chadwick’s role was important in improving public health as he documented conditions far more carefully than had his and, equally, was creative in discovering suitable solutions to longstanding problems. His first significant contribution to gaining support for legislation was in 1842 when he wrote a report on the sanitary conditions of the Labouring Population. Chadwick attacked the ineffectiveness of sewerage systems and water supplies but most importantly made the link between overcrowding, unsanitary housing conditions and death. He showed that the death rates in England were actually worse than the beginning of the 19th century and that the current problem was fundamentally a result of the overcrowding in towns. He realised that the people becoming ill was almost like a cycle, first of all people live in dirty, overcrowded conditions, this caused a huge amount of illness. Many people were then too sick to work and then became poorer still. Therefore other people had to pay higher taxes in order to help the poor.

Join now!

The limitations to Chadwick’s work was his argumentative and arrogant character which antagonised people and made it difficult for him to get people to support his case. Another limitation to his work was that his 1842 report did not lead to an immediate reform. The Public Health Act was introduced in 1848 and this did not force councils to improve public health, yet it simply suggested what councils should do. Moreover, his influence faded in the 1850s as he retired in 1854 and played no part in advising the government after this.

On the other hand, Chadwick was not the ...

This is a preview of the whole essay