Parliament Appoints the Royal Commission on Handloom Weavers to Research the Impact of Mechanization

In 1841 lawyer and economist Nassau William Senior, completed the report of the Royal Commission on Hand-Loom Weavers, an enquiry in the United Kingdom into unemployment and poverty in the textile industry. The commission was set up in 1837, and issued a number of reports, to 1841.

Before the wide introduction of power looms in England weaving on handlooms had experienced a boom in the decade 1795 to 1805, with number of handloom weavers in the United Kingdom estimated at 400,000. As a result, the industrialization of textile production during the first decades of the 19th century had major economic consequences-- often detrimental-- for a large group of people, contributing along with the consequences of mechanization in agriculture, to major social 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.^[4][5] It was chaired by Sir John Maxwell, 7th Baronet, who with John Fielden called witnesses sympathetic to the weavers. Fielden via Maxwell introduced a minimum wage 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 of the "physical force" tendency.^{[6]"(Wikipedia article on Royal Commission on Hand-Loom Weavers, accessed 03-2019).}