English politician (1786?1845)
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet Buxton of Belfield and Runton (1786?1845)
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet Buxton of Belfield and Runton
(1 April 1786
[1]
? 19 February 1845) was an English
Member of Parliament
,
brewer
,
abolitionist
and
social reformer
.
[2]
He married Hannah Gurney, whose sister became Elizabeth Fry, and became a great friend of her father Joseph Gurney and the extended
Gurney family
.
Early life
[
edit
]
Buxton was born at
Castle Hedingham
,
Essex
. His father, also named Thomas Fowell Buxton, died young, leaving three sons and two daughters. His
Quaker
mother's maiden name was Anna Hanbury. He completed his education at
Trinity College Dublin
,
[3]
graduating in 1807.
[4]
Through his mother's influence Buxton became associated with the Gurney family of
Earlham Hall
,
Norwich
, especially with
Joseph John Gurney
and Gurney's sister, the prison reformer
Elizabeth Fry
. He married their sister Hannah in May 1807. He lived at Belfield House,
Weymouth, Dorset
in the constituency he represented as an MP,
[5]
and later at
Northrepps
Hall in Norfolk, where he died aged 57,
[6]
In 1808, Buxton's Hanbury connections led to an appointment to work at the
brewery
of
Truman, Hanbury & Company
, in
Brick Lane
,
Spitalfields
, London. In 1811 he was made a partner in the business, renamed
Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co
, and later its sole owner.
Although he was a member of the
Church of England
, Buxton attended Quaker meetings with some of the Gurneys, and so became involved in the social reform movement, in which Friends were prominent. He helped to raise money for the weavers of London, who were being forced into poverty by the factory system. He provided financial support for Elizabeth Fry's prison reform work and joined her Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in
Newgate
.
Buxton was elected to Parliament for
Weymouth and Melcombe Regis
in 1818. As an MP he worked for changes in prison conditions and criminal law and for the
abolition of slavery
, in which he was helped by his sister-in-law
Louisa Gurney Hoare
.
[
citation needed
]
He also opposed
capital punishment
and pushed for its abolition. Although he never accomplished that, he worked to restrict the crimes for which capital punishment could be meeted, whose number eventually fell from more than 200 to eight (8). Other moves for which Buxton argued were the suppression of lotteries and abolition of
suttee
, the practice of burning widows in India.
Thomas and Hannah Buxton had eight children, but four died of
whooping cough
over a five-week period around April 1820. Another died of
consumption
some time later. Hannah would send boxes of toys to the missionary
Anna Hinderer
in Nigeria in 1855. By 1866, her grandchildren were parcelling them up.
[7]
Abolitionism
[
edit
]
Buxton is on the left edge in this painting which is of the 1840
World Anti-Slavery Convention
.
[8]
Move cursor to identify him or click icon to enlarge
The slave trade had been abolished in 1807, but existing slavery remained and Buxton joined in the campaign to abolish it. In 1823, he helped to found the British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society (later the
Anti-Slavery Society
). In May 1823, Buxton introduced in the House of Commons a resolution condemning the state of slavery as "repugnant to the principles of the British constitution and of the Christian religion", and called for its gradual abolition "throughout the British colonies". He also pressured the government to send dispatches to the colonies to improve the treatment of slaves.
Buxton took over as leader of the abolition movement in the
British House of Commons
after
William Wilberforce
retired in 1825. The petition he presented to the House of Commons bore 187,000 signatures. This had been partly organised by
Priscilla Buxton
in 1833; she and
Amelia Opie
were the first two signatories.
[10]
He largely achieved his goal when slavery was officially abolished in the
British Empire
with the passage of his
Slavery Abolition Act
of 1833, except in India and Ceylon. Buxton held his seat in Parliament until 1837.
[
citation needed
]
In 1839, Buxton urged the British government to make treaties with African leaders to abolish the slave trade. The government in turn backed the
Niger expedition of 1841
(not including Buxton) put together by missionary organizations, which was also going to work on trade. More than 150 people were part of the expedition, which reached the Niger Delta and began negotiations. The British suffered such high mortality from fevers, with more than 25 per cent of the group dying rapidly, that the mission was cut short in 1841.
[
citation needed
]
The Buxton vault in
Overstrand
Church
David Livingstone
was strongly influenced by Buxton's arguments that the
African slave trade
might be destroyed through the influence of "legitimate trade" (in goods) and the spread of Christianity. He became a
missionary
in Africa and fought the slave trade all his life.
[
citation needed
]
On 30 July 1840, Buxton was created a
baronet
.
[11]
His health failed gradually ? according to some, due to disappointment over the failed mission to Africa. He died five years later at his home, Northrepps Hall, near
Cromer
, Norfolk and was buried at
Overstrand
, Norfolk. He also owned farms and woodland at
Runton
nearby (now the Runton Old Hall estate).
[12]
Founding RSPCA chairman
[
edit
]
On 16 June 1824, a meeting was held at Old Slaughter's Coffee House, St Martin's Lane, London, at which was created the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals ? it became the RSPCA when
Queen Victoria
gave royal assent in 1840.
[13]
[14]
The 22 founding members included William Wilberforce,
Richard Martin
,
Sir James Mackintosh
,
Basil Montagu
and Reverend
Arthur Broome
. Buxton was appointed chairman for the year 1824.
[15]
[16]
[17]
Legacy and honours
[
edit
]
The memorial on Bincleaves Green:
Descendants
[
edit
]
Buxton had a number of notable descendants through his five sons and six daughters:
[21]
Sir Edward North Buxton, 2nd Baronet
(1812?1858) married Catherine Gurney (1814?1911). They had seven sons and five daughters.
- Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet
(1837?1915) married Lady Victoria Noel (1840?1916).
- Sir Thomas Fowell Victor Buxton, 4th Baronet
(1865?1919)
- Noel Edward Noel-Buxton, 1st Baron Noel-Buxton
(1869?1948)
- Charles Roden Buxton
(1875?1942)
- Harold Jocelyn Buxton
(1880?1976)
- Leland William Wilberforce Buxton (1884?1967)
- Samuel Gurney Buxton (1838 ? February 1909) of Catton served as
High Sheriff of Norfolk
in 1891?1892.
- Edward North Buxton
, MP (1840?1924)
- Henry Edmund Buxton (1844?1905)
- Charles Louis Buxton (1846?1906)
- Francis William Buxton
(1847?1911)
Thomas Fowell Buxton (1822?1908) married Rachel Gurney (1823?1905) and had six sons and five daughters.
- Elizabeth Ellen Buxton (later Barclay) (1848?1919)
- John Henry Buxton (1849?1934), director of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton Brewery, chairman of the London Hospital
- Arthur Buxton
(1882?1958), Rector of
All Souls Church, Langham Place
, and
Chaplain to the Forces
- Margaret Katherine Buxton (1885?1974)
- David Charles McClintock
(1913?2001), natural historian, botanist, horticulturist and author
- Geoffrey Fowell Buxton (1852?1929), a director of Barclays Bank
- Alfred Fowell Buxton
(1854?1952), chairman of London County Council
- Barclay Fowell Buxton
(1860?1946), missionary
- Murray Barclay Buxton (1889?1940)
- Alfred Barclay Buxton (1891?1940)
- George Barclay Buxton (1892?1917)
- Barclay Godfrey Buxton
(1895?1986)
Charles Buxton
, MP (1823?1871) married Emily Mary Holland (1824?1908) and had two sons and four daughters.
- Bertram Henry Buxton (1852?1934)
- Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton
, MP (1853?1934)
Andrew Robert Fowell Buxton CMG b.1939- Chairman of Barclays Bank
Priscilla Buxton
(1808?1852) married
Andrew Johnston
, MP (c. 1798?1862)
[22]
and had two sons and four daughters.
- Andrew Johnston
, MP (1835?1895)
- Fowell Buxton Johnston (1839?1914), army officer, married Alice Douglas (1846?1891).
- Edward Johnston
(1872?1944), calligrapher
Thomas Mark Buxton (born 1874)
Writings
[
edit
]
- An Enquiry, Whether Crime and Misery are produced or prevented by our present system of Prison Discipline
(1818)
- The African Slave Trade and Its Remedy
(London: J. Murray, 1839)
See also
[
edit
]
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Olwyn Mary Blouet, "Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, first baronet (1786?1845)",
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
, Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., May 2010
accessed 25 April 2013
.
- ^
"Buxton, Thomas Fowell (1786?1845)"
.
Dictionary of National Biography
. London: Smith, Elder & Co. 1885?1900.
- ^
The National Cyclopaedia of Useful Knowledge, Vol. III
, London (1847) Charles Knight, p. 980.
- ^
Alumni Dublinenses: a register of the students, graduates, professors and provosts of
Trinity College in the University of Dublin
(1593?1860)
,
George Dames Burtchaell
/
Thomas Ulick Sadleir
p. 124: Dublin, Alex Thom and Co, 1935.
- ^
The Thomas Fowell Buxton Society (
http://www.thomasfowellbuxton.org.uk
)
- ^
The Banville Diaries, Journals of a Norfolk Gamekeeper 1822?44
, ed. Norma Virgoe and Susan Yaxley, Introduction by Lord Buxton, William Collins and Sons, 1986 (Banville was Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton's gamekeeper). Also
A Timeline of Thomas Fowell Buxton's Career
,
The Thomas Fowell Buxton Society
.
- ^
Hugh Morrison; Mary Clare Martin (20 January 2017).
Creating Religious Childhoods in Anglo-World and British Colonial Contexts, 1800?1950
. Taylor & Francis. p. 108.
ISBN
978-1-315-40876-7
.
- ^
The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840
,
Benjamin Robert Haydon
, 1841,
National Portrait Gallery
, London, NPG599, Given by
British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society
in 1880
- ^
Genius of Universal Emancipation
. B. Lundy. 1833. p. 174.
- ^
"No. 19872"
.
The London Gazette
. 7 July 1840. p. 1599.
- ^
Home by The Sea: Runton Old Hall - its history and some of its inhabitants
, William Macadam, December 31, 2014
- ^
Antony Brown,
Who Cares For Animals? 150 Years of the RSPCA
(London: Heinemann,1974), p. 16.
- ^
Kathryn Shevelow,
For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement
(New York: Henry Holt, 2009), pp. 269, 280.
- ^
Edward G. Fairholme and Wellesley Pain,
A Century of Work for Animals: The History of the R.S.P.C.A., 1824?1934
(London: John Murray, 1934), pp. 54, 301.
- ^
Arthur W. Moss,
Valiant Crusade: The History of the R.S.P.C.A.
(London: Cassell, 1961), pp. 22?23.
- ^
Brown,
Who Cares For Animals?
, p. 16.
- ^
Stanley, A.P.
,
Historical Memorials of Westminster Abbey
(
London
;
John Murray
;
1882
), p. 248.
- ^
A MONUMENTAL ENDEAVOUR, book to commemorate the design, production, build and dedication of the Buxton Monument at Weymouth
, The Thomas Fowell Buxton Society, 2017. Retrieved: 7 September 2021.
- ^
Hindley, Meghan,
Work is underway for a monument to honour former MP, Thomas Fowell Buxton
,
Dorset Echo
, 20 September 2016. Retrieved: 7 September 2021.
- ^
Foster, J.
The royal lineage of our noble and gentle families
. p. 138.
- ^
Clare Midgley, "Buxton, Priscilla (1808?1852)",
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
, Oxford University Press, 2004; online ed., September 2015
accessed 25 June 2017
Bibliography
[
edit
]
- Barclay, Oliver (2001).
Thomas Fowell Buxton and the liberation of slaves
. York: William Sessions.
- Binney, Thomas
(1853) [1849].
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, Bart. A study for young men
. London: J. Nisbet & Co.
- Buxton, Charles
, ed. (1848).
Memoirs of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton Bart
. London.
- Buxton, Thomas (2009) [first published 1818].
An Inquiry, whether Crime and Misery are Produced or Prevented, by our Present System of Prison Discipline
. Cambridge Library Collection ? British and Irish History, 19th Century.
Cambridge University Press
.
ISBN
978-1-108-00492-3
.
- Follett, Richard R. (2008). "After Emancipation: Thomas Fowell Buxton and Evangelical Politics in the 1830s".
Parliamentary History
.
27
: 119?129.
doi
:
10.1111/j.1750-0206.2007.00015.x
.
- Laidlaw, Zoe (2004). "Aunt Anna's Report: The Buxton Women and the Aborigines Select Committee, 1835?37".
Journal of Imperial and Commonwealth History
.
32
(2): 1?28.
doi
:
10.1080/03086530410001700381
.
S2CID
159690400
.
- Rodriguez, Junius P. (2007).
Encyclopedia of Emancipation and Abolition in the Transatlantic World
. Armonk, NY: M. E. Sharpe.
- Sheridan, Richard B. (2002).
"The Condition of slaves on the sugar plantations of Sir John Gladstone in the colony of Demerara 1812 to 1849"
.
New West Indian Guide
.
76
(3/4): 243?269.
doi
:
10.1163/13822373-90002536
.
hdl
:
1808/21075
.
- Temperley, Howard (1972).
British antislavery, 1833?1870
. Columbia: University of South Carolina Press.
- Walls, Andrew (1991). "The Legacy of Thomas Fowell Buxton".
International Bulletin of Missionary Research
.
15
(2): 74?77.
doi
:
10.1177/239693939101500207
.
S2CID
149038483
.
External links
[
edit
]
Parliament of the United Kingdom
|
Preceded by
|
Member of Parliament
for
Weymouth and Melcombe Regis
1818
?
1837
With:
4-seat constituency until 1832, then 2-seat
Masterton Ure
, to 1832
Thomas Wallace
, 1818?1828
John Gordon
, 1826?1832
Edward Sugden
, 1828?1831
Richard Weyland
, 1831
Charles Baring Wall
, 1831?1832
Sir Frederick George Johnstone, Bt
, 1832?1835
William Wharton Burden
, from 1835
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Baronetage of the United Kingdom
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1840?1845
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