Edwin Chadwick's Sanitary Report

In 1842 lawyer and civil servant Edwin Chadwick published his Report on the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain. Using statistics and local reports, he showed that disease and early death were concentrated in crowded, filthy districts. One striking table compared the average age at death in Liverpool: about 35 for gentry and professional families, 22 for tradespeople, and just 15 for laborers, figures pulled down heavily by child deaths.

Chadwick argued that clean water, drainage and sewage removal would save lives and money, because sickness pushed families onto poor relief. His approach was partly humanitarian and partly economic. He was unpopular with many, who saw him as a bossy centralizer threatening local control and property rights. His report nonetheless shaped the Public Health Act of 1848 and made statistics a powerful tool of social reform.