 J R Stephens a local Independent Methodist minister prominent in the Ten Hours and anti-poor law movements declared that he had first been made aware of the factory reform issue by Hindley.Hindley claimed to have consistently opposed the New Poor Law since his entry into Parliament; his failure to vote for Fielden's motion for repeal of the Poor Law Amendment Act being explicable by his absence due to illness.In June 1837, he was one of a handful of MPs present (in the British Coffee House, London) at a meeting of the Working Men's Association which passed a series of resolutions including 'that we agree to support and vote for a Bill, or Bills, to be brought into the House of Commons, embodying the principles of Universal Suffrage, equal representation, free election of representatives, without reference to property, the Ballot, and short Parliaments of fixed duration, the limit not to exceed three years'
- effectively the birth of the Chartist movement.