On 11 May 1943, Sir Hal Pateshall Colebatch (Chair), Cyril Richard Cornish, Edmund Henry Hartley Hall, Charles Bennett Williams and Garnet Barrington were appointed Royal Commissioners to inquire into the care and reform of youthful delinquents. The Royal Commission's terms of reference were to inquire into and report upon:

a) what provision should be made by the State for the care and reform of youthful delinquents;

b) the conditions of Barton's Mill prison as a place of detention for male youthful delinquents and of York or elsewhere for females, and whether improvements can be effected at such places for such purposes; and

c) the problem of juvenile deliquency generally.

The report of the Royal Commission is undated, but a copy was tabled in Parliament on 10 August 1943.