The Poor Law Amendment Act 1834 is passed

Background. The Act resulted from the 1832 Royal Commission into the Operation of the Poor Laws, which included Edwin Chadwick, John Bird Sumner, and Nassau William Senior. It was passed two years after the Representation of the People Act 1832. The legislation aimed to reverse economic trends by discouraging relief for those refusing to enter workhouses, establishing a centralised Poor Law Commission in England and Wales.

Provisions. The Act denied the right of the poor to subsistence and discouraged outdoor relief for the able-bodied; under the Act, all cases were to be offered the house and nothing else. It aimed to transfer unemployed rural workers to urban areas where there was work and protect urban ratepayers. The Times named it the starvation act, noting it forced workers to relocate to workhouse locations, separating families.

Implementation. After 1834, the Poor Law Commission distributed six diets for workhouse inmates, with one chosen by each Poor Law Union based on local circumstances. Section 19 forbade forcing inmates to attend church services contrary to their religious principles, allowing non-Anglicans to leave on Sundays with a certificate. The Act allowed women to become guardians if they met property requirements, though the first female was not elected until 1875.