Edwin Chadwick was the first government official to claim that:

• poor living conditions caused poor health;
• it was the government's responsibility to do something about it.

He produced a report in 1842 which argued that poor living conditions led to poor health and that this cost the taxpayer more. He made four recommendations for the government:

His work led to the 1848 Public Health Act. This encouraged local councils to do these things but it didn't force them.

His work eventually led to the Second Public Health Act which finally enforced his four key ideas. And he had a great comb-over.

John Snow

John Snow was a doctor who proved that cholera was spread through infected water in 1854. This was before Germ Theory and most people still believed that disease was caused by miasma

During the cholera outbreak in London in 1854, he carried out detailed research, plotting the number of deaths on a map. He found that those that had drunk water from the pump on Broad Street became ill. He persuaded the authorities to remove the handle of the Broad Street pump and the cholera outbreak then stopped.

However, Snow was unable to prove how dirty water spread cholera and his ideas were slow to be accepted.

Edwin Chadwick was the first government official to claim that:

• poor living conditions caused poor health;
• it was the government's responsibility to do something about it.

He produced a key report in 1842, On the Living Conditions of the Labouring Population. It concluded that poor living conditions led to poor health and that ultimately this cost the tax payer more. He made four key recommendations.

His work led to the 1848 Public Health Act. This encouraged local councils to do these things by allowing them to borrow money to invest. However it didn't force them to do this. His work in the long-term led to theSecond Public Health Act which finally enforced his four key recommendations. And he had a great comb-over.

Edwin Chadwick was a civil servant. He was the first government official to:

• poor living conditions caused poor health;
• it was the government's responsibility to do something about it.

He produced a key report in 1842, On the Living Conditions of the Labouring Population. It concluded that poor living conditions led to poor health and that ultimately this cost the tax payer more. He made four key recommendations.

His work led to the 1848 Public Health Act. This encouraged local councils to do these things by allowing them to borrow money to invest. However it didn't force them to do this. About 50 councils used their new powers, e.g. Leeds and Sunderland, but most didn't. The 1848 Act also established the Board of Health but this had few powers and was disbanded in 1854. Chadwick's work in the long-term led to theSecond Public Health Act which finally enforced his four key recommendations. And he had a great comb-over.