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The 1848 Public Health Act: Social Reform

182 Words1 Pages
The 1848 Public Health Act was the first step on the road to improved public health. One of the individuals who played an important role in its creation was Edwin Chadwick, a social reformer. Edwin Chadwick was one of the architects of the 1834 Poor Law, which was based on the principle that making the provision of poor relief so unpleasant would put off all but the most desperate. Whilst working as secretary to the Poor Law Commissioners he investigated the issue of sanitation amongst the poor. In 1842 he published ‘The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain’, paying the costs of publication himself as the Poor Law Commission did not want to be associated with the report. Chadwick’s argument was economic, as
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