The Combinations of Workmen Act 1825 had limited worker collective bargaining to matters of working hours and wages, and suppressed the right to strike.

The Conservative Prime Minister, the Earl of Derby, set up a Royal Commission on Trade Unions in 1867.

Robert Applegarth from the Amalgamated Society of Carpenters and Joiners was a union observer of the proceedings.

Frederic Harrison, Thomas Hughes and the Earl of Lichfield produced their own minority report, recommending the following changes in the law: When William Ewart Gladstone's new government came to power, the Trade Union Congress campaigned for the minority report, made under the leadership of Sir William Erle, to be adopted.

In its passage through Parliament, Mr Bruce introduced the First Reading of the Bill, quoting the Minority Report.