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In 1834, the Whig government passed the Poor Law Amendment Act, which significantly changed the nature of poor relief in Britain. Broadly speaking, the Royal Commission was the main influence on the terms of this act
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History Module Essay In 1834, the Whig government passed the Poor Law Amendment Act, which significantly changed the nature of poor relief in Britain. Broadly speaking, the Royal Commission was the main influence on the terms of this act, although the Whig party itself and threat of violence also played a role in defining the new law. The Royal Commission was dominated by utilitarian political economists such as Chadwick and Senior, who were subscribers to the views of economic theorists like Smith, Ricardo and Malthus. Smith was a pioneer of laissez-faire thinking, and he believed that government intervention in economic matters should be kept to a minimum, whilst Malthus warned against over-population by making the poor dependent on handouts. The main concern of the Commission had been the spiralling cost of the Poor Law. By 1831, the annual expenditure was equivalent to 80% of local rates - nearly £7 million....
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