Oxford professor of political economy and Poor Law commissioner who opposed the Ten Hours Act
Born at Compton in Berkshire in 1790, the son of a vicar, he was educated at Eton and Magdalen College, Oxford, and became a conveyancer. When the Drummond professorship of political economy was founded at Oxford in 1825 he was elected to it, holding the chair until 1830 and again from 1847 to 1852. In 1830 Lord Melbourne asked him to inquire into combinations and strikes, and he sat on the Poor Law Inquiry Commission of 1832 and the Royal Commission of 1837 on handloom weavers. He was appointed a master in chancery in 1836. In his Letters on the Factory Act (1837) he opposed the Child Labour Law and the proposed Ten Hours Act on the grounds that they would make it impossible for factory owners to make profits. Appointed in 1864 to the commission on popular education, he died at Kensington that year.
Activities and affiliations
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1825–1852
University of OxfordDrummond Professor of Political EconomyMain
Scholarship and theory -
1832–1837
United Kingdom state institutionsRoyal Commissioner
Government and administration -
1836–
United Kingdom state institutionsMaster in Chancery
Law and justice
Career Timeline
- 1825–1830Drummond Professor of Political Economy, Oxford
- 1832Member of the Poor Law Inquiry Commission
- 1836Master in chancery
- 1837Letters on the Factory Act
- 1847–1852Drummond Professor of Political Economy, Oxford