A fact from Royal Commission on Opium appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page in the Did you know column on 22 August 2011 (check views). The text of the entry was as follows:
Did you know... that the Royal Commission on Opium, set up at the instigation of anti-opium campaigners, set back the anti-opium cause by 15 years?
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At present, the list of members is a bit disorganised; I propose reorganising it as follows. I've reduced the amount of information where it seemed less relevant to their membership, but the wikilinks currently in the article will of course be maintained. All need inline citations, really.
Chairman:
Thomas Brassey, 1st Earl Brassey, (1836-1918) the son of Thomas Brassey, the railway contractor of Cheshire. Brassey had an extended career as a Liberal Member of the Parliament, and was a profilic author best known for his Brassey's Naval Annual. The Earl of Kimberley, Secretary of State for India, summarized the prevailing view of Brassey in a letter to the Marquess of Lansdowne, Viceroy of India: "I hope that you will have been satisfied with out nomination of Brassey to the Chairmanship of the Opium Commission. He is perhaps not a very strong man, but he is hard working, well informed, and fair minded. We may rely on his impartiality which is the most important qualification in such an inquiry."
Two members of the Commission were in favour of the trade:
Sir Arthur Fanshawe (1848-1931) Director General of the India Post Office.
Sir Charles James Lyall (1850-1916), retired to Britain Lieutenant Governor of the Punjab.
Two were avowedly anti-opium:
Henry Joseph Wilson (1833-1914), a radical Liberal MP from Holmfirth in West Yorkshire since 1885. He was a campaigner for social reform and religious freedom.
Arthur Pease (MP) (1837-1898) was a Member of Parliament from Whitby who served on the governing council of the Society for the Suppression of the Opium trade. Pease was a Quaker and Liberal Unionist.
The two Indian members were
Lakshmeshwar Singh (1858-18980), Maharaja of Darbhanga, a committed Indian nationalist who was one of the most generous financial supporters of Indian National Congress from its inception in 1885. He was also a member of the Supreme Legislative Council that advised the Viceroy of India.
Haridas Viharidas Desai (1840-1895) was Diwan of Junagadh. The Viceroy nominated him on advice of Sir Charles Pritchard, a member of his Council who had served in the Bombay Presidency.
The other two posts were filled
Robert.G.C.Mowbray (1850-1916), a conservative MP from Lancashire and an Inner Temple Barrister.
Sir William Roberts (physician) (1830-1899), a physician, clincian and medical researcher.
