Empire), and the Factory Acts (limiting child labour). In 1834 Grey retired from public life, leaving Lord Melbourne as his successor. Reforms continued under Lord Melbourne, with the Poor Law Amendment Act in 1834, which stated that no able-bodied British man could receive assistance unless he entered a workhouse. King William IV's opposition to the Whigs' reforming ways led him to dismiss Melbourne in November and then appoint Sir Robert Peel to form a Tory government. Peel's failure to win a House of Commons majority in the resulting general election (January 1835) made it impossible for him to govern, and the Whigs returned to power under Melbourne in April 1835. The Marriage Act 1836 established civil marriage and registration systems that permit marriages in nonconformist chapels, and a Registrar General of Births, Marriages, and Deaths. There were protests and significant unrest during the decade. In May and June 1831 in Wales, coal miners and others rioted for improved working conditions in what was known as the Merthyr Rising. William Howley Archbishop of Canterbury has his coach attacked by an angry mob on his first official visit to Canterbury in 1832. In 1834, Robert Owen organized the Grand National Consolidated Trades Union, an early attempt to form a national union confederation. In May 1838, the People's Charter was drawn up in the United Kingdom, demanding universal suffrage. Chartism continued to gain popularity, leading to the Newport Rising in 1839, the last large-scale armed rebellion against authority in mainland Britain. In 1835, James Pratt and John Smith were hanged outside Newgate Prison in London after a conviction of sodomy, the last deadly victims of the judicial persecution of homosexual men in England. Western Europe Germany May 30, 1832 – Germany: Hambacher Fest, a demonstration for civil liberties and national unity, ends with no result. December 14, 1833 – Kaspar Hauser, a mysterious German youth, is stabbed, dying three days later on December 17. January 1, 1834 – Zollverein: Customs charges are abolished at borders within Germany. October 13, 1836 – Theodor Fliedner, a Lutheran minister, and Friederike, his wife, open the Deaconess Home and Hospital at Kaiserswerth, Germany, as an institute to train women in nursing. The 5th century BC Berlin Foundry Cup is acquired for the Antikensammlung Berlin in Germany. Austria March 2, 1835 – Ferdinand becomes Emperor of Austria. Switzerland October – Start of the Regeneration in Switzerland: more liberal