Jessica Herbert
Professor Gradie
Freshman seminar
March 26, 2014

Originally educated as a lawyer, Edwin Chadwick became one of England’s first full time civil servants. He was very interested in the well being of the poor. In 1842 Chadwick conducted a study in which he looked into the condition in which the lower classes lived. He also was interested in sanitation in the areas in which they lived and their well being. In this study, Chadwick made correlations between how these people lived their lives as well as the condition of the area around them. Chadwick surveyed many authorities around England on the living conditions and quality of life of the poor. He found that the conditions were often the same from town to town. The lower classes often lived in small crowded quarters. Their homes often had poor ventilation and were very damp. This was often due to the fact that their homes were surrounded by refuse due to poor drainage.
People living in these conditions often contracted illnesses. Chadwick connected these illnesses to the poor living conditions these people lived in. He believed that being around the refuse and the damp around them would cause sickness. Chadwick surmised that people who were not exposed to these conditions were not nearly as sickly as those who were. He supported the idea that diseases were caused by noxious air in the environment emanating from putrid things in the environment.
Due to this study, Chadwick was also able to make connections between a person’s moral habits and the way they live. He stated that he believed that by improving the living conditions of the poor by providing proper warmth, ventilation, and drainage he was convinced it would “raise the moral character of the poor man and render him less susceptible to the allurements of the idle and wicked.”(Chadwick 220) In saying this, Chadwick is explaining he believes that by bettering the