Catalogue description Royal Commission on the Private Manufacture of and Trading in Arms (Bankes Commission): Reports and Submissions

The Royal Commission on the Private Manufacture of and Trading in Arms was appointed by Royal Warrant of February 20, 1935, under the chairmanship of Sir John Bankes, with the following terms of reference:

• To consider and report upon the practicability and desirability (both from the national and international point of view) of the adoption (a) by the United Kingdom alone, (b) by the United Kingdom in conjunction with the other countries of the world, of a prohibition of private manufacture of and trade in arms and munitions of war, and the institution of a State monopoly of such manufacture and trade
• To consider and report whether there are any steps which can usefully be taken to remove or minimize the kinds of objections to which private manufacture is stated in Article 8 (5) of the Covenant of the League of Nations to be open
• To examine the present arrangements in force in the United Kingdom relative to the control of the export trade in arms and munitions of war, and to report whether these arrangements require revision, and if so, in what directions.

The report of the commission was published in October 1936.