The Royal Commission on the Depression in Trade and Industry was a Royal Commission of the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

set up by the

Prime Minister A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...

Lord Salisbury Robert Arthur Talbot Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (; 3 February 183022 August 1903) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom three times for a total of over thirteen y ...

's minority

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

government in August 1885 and completed in December 1886. It occurred during the Great Depression of 1873–96. The decision by Salisbury to appoint this Royal Commission has been seen as a way of easing the pressure on the Conservative Party from " fair traders" who opposed the prevailing

free trade Free trade is a trade policy that does not restrict imports or exports. It can also be understood as the free market idea applied to international trade. In government, free trade is predominantly advocated by political parties that hold econo ...

orthodoxy. The former

Liberal Liberal or liberalism may refer to: Politics * a supporter of liberalism ** Liberalism by country * an adherent of a Liberal Party * Liberalism (international relations) * Sexually liberal feminism * Social liberalism Arts, entertainment and m ...

ministers who Salisbury wished to appoint to the Royal Commission, such as

John Kynaston Cross John Kynaston Cross (13 October 1832 – 20 March 1887), was a British cotton spinner and Liberal Party politician. He served as Under-Secretary of State for India under William Gladstone from 1883 to 1885. Background Cross was the second of t ...

, declined to do so because such an inquiry implicitly questioned the validity of free trade. The Commission was chaired by Lord Iddesleigh, a free trader.

William Rubinstein William D. Rubinstein (born 12 August 1946) is a historian and author. His best-known work, ''Men of Property: The Very Wealthy in Britain Since the Industrial Revolution'', charts the rise of the ' super rich', a class he sees as expanding ex ...

has noted that the "commission was notable for being one of the first to acknowledge Britain's disadvantages as the earliest industrial country at a time of intense foreign competition. Its recommendations were moderate, and Iddesleigh's chairmanship ensured that it did not stray from free-trade orthodoxy despite the growing calls for protection from many tories".W. D. Rubinstein, �
Northcote, Stafford Henry, first earl of Iddesleigh (1818–1887)
��, ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'', Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2009, accessed 3 Dec 2010.

Notes

{{reflist Depression Economic history of the United Kingdom 1885 establishments in the United Kingdom 1886 disestablishments in the United Kingdom Organizations established in 1885 Organizations disestablished in 1886 Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury