Utilitarianism is a fairly old philosophy, and major elements of it are even older. The best known, and most prolific, Utilitarian philosophers were Jeremy Bentham (1748-1832), and John Stuart Mill (1806-1873). In their time, Utilitarianism was a significant philosophical movement in Britain, and the Utilitarians were some of the leading social reformers of the time. Mill, especially, is quite well known today. Many people seem to think, unfortunately, that Utilitarianism began with Bentham and ended with Mill. This is quite wrong in two ways.