[6] Campaigners felt that encouraging the lower classes to spend their free time on morally uplifting activities, such as reading, would promote greater social good.

In 1835, and against government opposition, James Silk Buckingham, MP for Sheffield and a supporter of the temperance movement, was able to secure the chair of the select committee which would examine "the extent, causes, and consequences of the prevailing vice of intoxication among the labouring classes of the United Kingdom" and propose solutions.

Francis Place, a campaigner for the working class, agreed that "the establishment of parish libraries and district reading rooms, and popular lectures on subjects both entertaining and instructive to the community might draw off a number of those who now frequent public houses for the sole enjoyment they afford.

"[7] Buckingham introduced to Parliament a public institution Bill allowing boroughs to charge a tax to set up libraries and museums, the first of its kind.

Although this did not become law, it had a major influence on William Ewart and Joseph Brotherton, MPs, who introduced a Bill which would "[empower] boroughs with a population of 10,000 or more to raise a 1⁄2d for the establishment of museums.