The Royal Commission on Hand-Loom Weavers was an enquiry in the United Kingdom into unemployment and poverty in the textile industry. It was set up in 1837, and issued a number of reports, to 1841.

Background

The number of

handloom A loom is a device used to weave cloth and tapestry. The basic purpose of any loom is to hold the warp threads under tension to facilitate the interweaving of the weft threads. The precise shape of the loom and its mechanics may vary, but th ...

weavers in the United Kingdom was estimated at 400,000, and the economic consequences of industrial textile production bore heavily on them. Weaving on handlooms had experienced a boom in the decade 1795 to 1805. The fact-finding of the assistant commissioners in 1837–8 occurred against a background of widespread unrest. The poor condition of handloom weavers was notorious in the 1830s, and was rapidly deteriorating. A parliamentary select committee produced reports on petitions from the weavers in 1834 and 1835. It was chaired by

Sir John Maxwell, 7th Baronet Sir John Maxwell, 7th Baronet, of Pollok (31 October 1768 – 30 July 1844) was the Member of Parliament (MP) for Paisley from 10 December 1832 until resigning in 1834. The eldest son of Sir James Maxwell, 6th Baronet, of Pollok and Frances Colq ...

, who with

John Fielden John Fielden (17 January 1784 – 29 May 1849) was a British industrialist and Radical Member of Parliament for Oldham (1832–1847). He entered Parliament to support William Cobbett, whose election as fellow-MP for Oldham he helped to bring ...

called witnesses sympathetic to the weavers. Fielden via Maxwell introduced a

minimum wage A minimum wage is the lowest remuneration that employers can legally pay their employees—the price floor below which employees may not sell their labor. Most countries had introduced minimum wage legislation by the end of the 20th century. Bec ...

bill in parliament in 1835. The opposition of '' laisser faire'' members meant it had no chance; but Fielden continued to advocate action. The Royal Commission was agreed in 1837. By 1840 the number of weavers had dropped by 100,000. They had also, in numbers, become

Chartists Chartism was a working-class movement for political reform in the United Kingdom that erupted from 1838 to 1857 and was strongest in 1839, 1842 and 1848. It took its name from the People's Charter of 1838 and was a national protest movement, w ...

of the "physical force" tendency.

The Commission

The Royal Commission was chaired by

Nassau William Senior Nassau William Senior (; 26 September 1790 – 4 June 1864), was an English lawyer known as an economist. He was also a government adviser over several decades on economic and social policy on which he wrote extensively. Early life He was born ...

. With him on the control board were

William Edward Hickson William Edward Hickson (7 January 1803 – 22 March 1870), commonly known as Richman Hopson and W. E. Hickson, was a British educational writer. He was the author of "Time and Faith" and was the editor of ''The Westminster Review'' (1840–185 ...

, J. Leslie, and Samuel Jones Loyd.

Assistant commissioners

Regional reports were produced in five parts, in 1839 and 1840. There were nine assistant commissioners, assigned particular areas.

Investigative reports

Joseph Fletcher Joseph Francis Fletcher (April 10, 1905 in Newark, New Jersey - October 28, 1991 in Charlottesville, Virginia) was an American professor who founded the theory of situational ethics in the 1960s, and was a pioneer in the field of bioethics. Flet ...

, who was secretary, reported on the Midlands. There were initially five assistant commissioners; five more positions were granted, but only four were taken up. The remaining funds were used to send Fletcher to the Midlands, and two of the assistant commissioners to the continent. Symons reported in Part I in 1839; the other Parts appeared in 1840. Part II involved Mitchell, Austin and Keyser; Part III Chapman, Otway, and Muggeridge on Irish linen; Part V Miles, Muggeridge and Symons. Hickson made a separate report in 1840; in it he advocated abolition of the Corn Laws, and a system of

national education Moral and national education (MNE), initially known as Moral and civic education (MCE), was a school curriculum proposed by the Education Bureau of Hong Kong in 2012. The subject was controversial for its stance on the Chinese Communist Part ...

Final report

The final report of the commission was dated 19 February 1841. Senior included in it extracts from an unpublished study he had made ten years earlier, after

Lord Melbourne William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne, (15 March 177924 November 1848), in some sources called Henry William Lamb, was a British Whig politician who served as Home Secretary (1830–1834) and Prime Minister (1834 and 1835–1841). His first pre ...

had invited him to report on trade combinations and strikes.

Notes

{{Reflist British Royal Commissions 1837 establishments in the United Kingdom 1841 disestablishments in the United Kingdom