The first bill was presented to Parliament in 1829 by Henry Warburton, author of the Select Committee's report. Following a spirited defence of the poor by peers in the House of Lords, it was withdrawn, but almost two years later Warburton introduced a second bill, shortly after the execution of John Bishop and Thomas Williams. The London Burkers, as the two men were known, were inspired by a series of murders committed by William Burke and William Hare, two Irishmen who sold their victims' bodies to Robert Knox, a Scottish surgeon. Even though Burke and Hare never robbed graves, their case lowered the public's view of resurrectionists from desecraters to potential murderers. The resulting wave of social anxiety helped speed Warburton's bill through Parliament, and despite much public opprobrium, with little Parliamentary opposition the Anatomy Act 1832 became law on 1 August 1832. It abolished that part of the 1752 Act that allowed murderers to be dissected, ending the centuries-old tradition of anatomising felons, although it neither discouraged nor prohibited body snatching, or the sale of corpses (whose legal status remained uncertain). Another clause allowed a person's body to be given up for "anatomical examination", provided that the person concerned had not objected. As the poor were often barely literate and therefore unable to leave written directions in the event of their death, this meant that masters of charitable institutions such as workhouses decided who went to the anatomist's table. A stipulation that witnesses could intervene was also abused, as such witnesses might be fellow inmates who were powerless to object, or workhouse staff who stood to gain money through wilful ignorance.