ABSTRACT
To the English sanitary reformer Edwin Chadwick, author of the famous Report of an Inquiry into the Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population of Great Britain (1842), goes credit for recognizing the central importance of public works—waterworks, sewers, better-ventilated streets and houses—to public health. One might think engineers would have aligned themselves with Chadwick's programs—he brought them business. In fact, however, Chadwick's relations with engineers were wretched. For Chadwick, mid-century British civil engineers were part of the problems, not the solutions. At the center of Chadwick's troubles with engineers is an obscure technical controversy over sewer design, the "pipe-and-brick" sewers war of 1852-54. Using the pipe-and-brick sewers war as a focus, this chapter reassesses Chadwick's relations with orthodox engineers. Although Chadwick is often seen as a dogmatist, his views on sanitary engineering changed significantly over the years.
