Sir Edwin Chadwick KCB (24 January 1800 – 6 July 1890) was an English social reformer who is noted for his leadership in reforming the Poor Laws in England and instituting major reforms in urban sanitation and public health. A disciple of Utilitarian philosopher Jeremy Bentham, he was most active between 1832 and 1854; after that he held minor positions, and his views were largely ignored. Chadwick pioneered the use of scientific surveys to identify all phases of complex social problems and was one of those responsible for the Amended Poor Law of 1834, which was proposed as the solution to abuse under the old system. He proposed the centralised establishment of workhouses, in which the conditions would be such that they would be a deterrent to all except for the most needy and destitute. However, this system, under corrupt workhouse masters, was equally open to abuse and poorly monitored. He was also diretly responsible, after an outbreak of typhus, for the instigation of an enquiry and for first time in British history, doctors were employed to look at the conditions which might contribute to ill health in the population. He was a reformer in many fields: tropical hygiene, criminal justice institutions, policy regarding funerals and burials in urban areas, school architecture, utilisation of sewage, military sanitation and the education of paupers. He was involved in investigations into child labour in factories, the organisation of the police force, drunkenness, the treatment of labourers on the railways, the building and maintenance of roads, organisation of the civil service, and various aspects of education. Most of these benefitted from his use of statistical methods of data collection and oragnisation and of the use of anecdotal evidence to support his conclusions. Truly, a very active and innovative man.