Thomas Fowell Buxton
Encyclopedia
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet (7 April 1786 – 19 February 1845) was an English
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

 Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

, brewer
Brewing
Brewing is the production of beer through steeping a starch source in water and then fermenting with yeast. Brewing has taken place since around the 6th millennium BCE, and archeological evidence suggests that this technique was used in ancient Egypt...

, abolitionist and social reformer.

Buxton was born at Castle Hedingham
Castle Hedingham
Castle Hedingham is a small village in northeast Essex, England, located four miles west of Halstead and is situated in the Colne Valley on the ancient road from Colchester, Essex, to Cambridge....

, Essex
Essex
Essex is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in the East region of England, and one of the home counties. It is located to the northeast of Greater London. It borders with Cambridgeshire and Suffolk to the north, Hertfordshire to the west, Kent to the South and London to the south west...

, England
England
England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

. His father was also named Thomas Fowell Buxton. His mother's maiden name was Anna Hanbury. She was a Quaker (member of the Religious Society of Friends
Religious Society of Friends
The Religious Society of Friends, or Friends Church, is a Christian movement which stresses the doctrine of the priesthood of all believers. Members are known as Friends, or popularly as Quakers. It is made of independent organisations, which have split from one another due to doctrinal differences...

). Through the influence of his mother, Buxton became a close friend of Joseph John Gurney
Joseph John Gurney
Joseph John Gurney was a banker in Norwich, England and an evangelical Minister of the Religious Society of Friends , whose views and actions led, ultimately, to a schism among American Quakers.-Biography:...

 and his sister, Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry , née Gurney, was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist...

, who were both prominent Quakers. Buxton married their sister Hannah Gurney, of Earlham Hall, Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

 in May 1807. He lived at Northrepps Hall in Norfolk.

Early life

In 1808, Buxton's Hanbury family connections led to an appointment to work at the brewery
Brewery
A brewery is a dedicated building for the making of beer, though beer can be made at home, and has been for much of beer's history. A company which makes beer is called either a brewery or a brewing company....

 of Truman, Hanbury & Company
Old Truman Brewery
The Old Truman Brewery is the former Black Eagle brewery complex located around Brick Lane in the Spitalfields area, in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It was established by the brewers Truman's which subsequently became Truman, Hanbury and Buxton...

, in Brick Lane
Brick Lane
Brick Lane is a street in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London. It runs from Swanfield Street in the northern part of Bethnal Green, crosses Bethnal Green Road, passes through Spitalfields and is linked to Whitechapel High Street to the south by the short stretch of...

, Spitalfields
Spitalfields
Spitalfields is a former parish in the borough of Tower Hamlets, in the East End of London, near to Liverpool Street station and Brick Lane. The area straddles Commercial Street and is home to many markets, including the historic Old Spitalfields Market, founded in the 17th century, Sunday...

, London
London
London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

. In 1811, he was appointed a partner in the business, now renamed Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co; he later became sole owner of the company.

Although he was a member of the Church of England
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...

, Buxton attended Friends meetings with the Gurneys and became involved in the social reform movement being led by Friends. He helped raise money for the weavers
Weaving
Weaving is a method of fabric production in which two distinct sets of yarns or threads are interlaced at right angles to form a fabric or cloth. The other methods are knitting, lace making and felting. The longitudinal threads are called the warp and the lateral threads are the weft or filling...

 of London who were forced into poverty by the factory system. He provided financial support for Elizabeth Fry’s prison reform work and became a member of her Association for the Improvement of the Female Prisoners in Newgate
Newgate
Newgate at the west end of Newgate Street was one of the historic seven gates of London Wall round the City of London and one of the six which date back to Roman times. From it a Roman road led west to Silchester...

.

Buxton was elected as a Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...

 for Weymouth and Melcombe Regis
Weymouth and Melcombe Regis (UK Parliament constituency)
Weymouth and Melcombe Regis was a parliamentary borough in Dorset represented in the English House of Commons, later in that of Great Britain, and finally in the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It was formed by an Act of Parliament of 1570 which amalgamated the existing boroughs of Weymouth and...

 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
Louisa Gurney Hoare
-Early life:Louisa Gurney, born on 25 September 1784, was the seventh of the eleven children of John Gurney of Earlham Hall near Norwich, a Quaker, and of Catherine Bell . Her father inherited ownership of Gurney's Bank in Norwich...

. He also opposed capital punishment
Capital punishment
Capital punishment, the death penalty, or execution is the sentence of death upon a person by the state as a punishment for an offence. Crimes that can result in a death penalty are known as capital crimes or capital offences. The term capital originates from the Latin capitalis, literally...

 and pushed for its abolition. Although he never accomplished this last goal during his lifetime, he did help to reduce the number of crimes punishable by death from more than two hundred to eight.

Thomas and Hannah Buxton had eight children. Four of them died of whooping cough during a five-week period around April 1820. Another one died of consumption
Tuberculosis
Tuberculosis, MTB, or TB is a common, and in many cases lethal, infectious disease caused by various strains of mycobacteria, usually Mycobacterium tuberculosis. Tuberculosis usually attacks the lungs but can also affect other parts of the body...

 some time later.

Abolitionism

The slave trade had been abolished in 1807, but Buxton began to work for the abolishment of slavery itself. He helped found the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery (later the Anti-Slavery Society
Anti-Slavery Society
The Anti-Slavery Society or A.S.S. was the everyday name of two different British organizations.The first was founded in 1823 and was committed to the abolition of slavery in the British Empire. Its official name was the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery Throughout the...

) in 1823. He took over as leader of the abolition movement in the British House of Commons
British House of Commons
The House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...

 after William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...

 retired in 1825. His efforts paid off in 1833 when slavery was officially abolished in the British Empire
British Empire
The British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...

. Buxton held his seat in Parliament until 1837.

In 1839 Buxton urged the British government to make treaties with Africa
Africa
Africa is the world's second largest and second most populous continent, after Asia. At about 30.2 million km² including adjacent islands, it covers 6% of the Earth's total surface area and 20.4% of the total land area...

n leaders to abolish the slave trade. They sent a team (not including Buxton) to the Niger River
Niger River
The Niger River is the principal river of western Africa, extending about . Its drainage basin is in area. Its source is in the Guinea Highlands in southeastern Guinea...

 Delta in 1841 that set up a headquarters and began negotiations. The party suffered so many deaths from disease that the government called them back.

David Livingstone
David Livingstone
David Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...

 was strongly influenced by Buxton’s arguments that the African slave trade
African slave trade
Systems of servitude and slavery were common in many parts of Africa, as they were in much of the ancient world. In some African societies, the enslaved people were also indentured servants and fully integrated; in others, they were treated much worse...

 might be destroyed through the influence of “legitimate trade” and the spread of Christianity, which helped inspire him to become a missionary in Africa and to fight the slave trade all his life.

In 1840 Buxton was created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...

. His health failed gradually, which some believed was caused by the disappointment over the failed mission to Africa. He died a few years later. There is a monument to him in Westminster Abbey
Westminster Abbey
The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

, and a memorial to the emancipation
Emancipation
Emancipation means the act of setting an individual or social group free or making equal to citizens in a political society.Emancipation may also refer to:* Emancipation , a champion Australian thoroughbred racehorse foaled in 1979...

 of slaves and dedicated to Buxton in Victoria Tower Gardens
Victoria Tower Gardens
Victoria Tower Gardens is a public park along the north bank of the River Thames in London. As its name suggests, it is adjacent to the Victoria Tower, the south-western corner of the Palace of Westminster...

 (commissioned by his son Charles Buxton
Charles Buxton
Charles Buxton was an English brewer, philanthropist, writer and Member of Parliament.Buxton was born in Cobham, Surrey, the third son of Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet, a notable brewer, MP and social reformer, and followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a partner in the brewery of Truman,...

 MP, the Buxton Memorial Fountain
Buxton Memorial Fountain
The Buxton Memorial Fountain is a memorial and drinking fountain in London, the United Kingdom, that commemorates the emancipation of slaves in the British Empire in 1834....

, designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon
Samuel Sanders Teulon
Samuel Sanders Teulon was a notable 19th century English Gothic Revival architect.-Family:Teulon was born in Greenwich in south-east London, the son of a cabinet-maker from a French Huguenot family. His younger brother William Milford Teulon also became an architect...

, was initially erected in Parliament Square
Parliament Square
Parliament Square is a square outside the northwest end of the Palace of Westminster in London. It features a large open green area in the middle, with a group of trees to its west. It contains statues of famous statesmen and is the scene of rallies and protests, as well as being a tourist...

, but was removed in 1940 and moved to its current location in 1957). Fowell Close in Earlham, Norwich, is named after him.

Recent memorials

A representation of Buxton can be also seen on the current English five pound note
Sterling banknotes
Sterling banknotes are the banknotes in circulation in the British Islands , denominated in pounds sterling . One pound is equivalent to 100 pence....

. He is the figure wearing glasses in the group on the left-hand side of Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry
Elizabeth Fry , née Gurney, was an English prison reformer, social reformer and, as a Quaker, a Christian philanthropist...

.

In February 2007 a plaque was attached in his memory to the Norwich
Norwich
Norwich is a city in England. It is the regional administrative centre and county town of Norfolk. During the 11th century, Norwich was the largest city in England after London, and one of the most important places in the kingdom...

 Friends Meeting House in Upper Goat Lane.

Buxton Road, part of the main route between Weymouth and the Isle of Portland
Isle of Portland
The Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...

 is named after Sir Thomas Buxton, where he was Member of Parliament for 19 years. The road runs past Bellfield Park, his former home in Wyke Regis
Wyke Regis
Wyke Regis is a village in south Dorset, England. The village is part of the south western suburbs of Weymouth, on the northern shore of Portland Harbour and the south-eastern end of Chesil Beach. Wyke is south of the county town, Dorchester...

.

There are plans to erect a permanent memorial to Buxton in Weymouth.

Descendants of Sir Thomas Buxton

Buxton had a number of notable descendants, and the table below is intended to show the relationships between them.

Sir Edward North Buxton, 2nd Baronet (1812–1858): married Catherine Gurney
Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet (1837–1915): married Lady Victoria Noel
Sir Thomas Fowell Victor Buxton, 4th Baronet
Sir Thomas Buxton, 4th Baronet
Sir Thomas Fowell Victor Buxton, 4th Baronet, – who went by the name Victor Buxton – was the great-grandson of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a British MP and social reformer; the grandson of Sir Edward North Buxton, also an MP; and the son of Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, a Governor of South...

 (1865–1919)
Noel Edward Noel-Buxton, 1st Baron Noel-Buxton
Noel Edward Noel-Buxton, 1st Baron Noel-Buxton
Noel Edward Noel-Buxton, 1st Baron Noel-Buxton PC was a British Liberal and later Labour politician. He served as Minister of Agriculture and Fisheries under Ramsay MacDonald in 1924 and between 1929 and 1930....

 (1869–1948)
Charles Roden Buxton
Charles Roden Buxton
Charles Roden Buxton was an English philanthropist and politician.He was born in London, the third son of Sir Thomas Buxton, 3rd Baronet...

 (1875–1942)
Harold Jocelyn Buxton (1880–?)
Leland William Wilberforce Buxton (1884–1967)
Samuel Gurney Buxton (1838–Feb 1909)
Edward North Buxton
Edward Buxton (conservationist)
Edward North Buxton was a British conservationist and liberal politician who sat in the House of Commons from 1885 to 1886....

 (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
Elizabeth Ellen Buxton (later Barclay) (1848-1919)
John Henry Buxton (1849–1934): Director of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton Brewery, Chairman of the London Hospital
Geoffrey Fowell Buxton (1852–1929): Director of Barclays Bank
Alfred Fowell Buxton (1854–1952): Chairman of London County Council
Barclay Fowell Buxton
Barclay Fowell Buxton
thumb|Japan, 1937.Rev. Barclay Fowell Buxton was an English evangelical Christian missionary in Japan.Buxton was the son of Thomas Fowell Buxton and Rachel Jane Gurney and grandson of Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet...

  (1860–1946): Missionary
Murray Barclay Buxton (1889–1940)
Alfred Barclay Buxton (1891–1940)
George Barclay Buxton (1892–1917)
Barclay Godfrey Buxton
Godfrey Buxton
Barclay Godfrey Buxton MC was a casualty of World War I, who compensated for his inability to follow the family tradition of missionary service by founding and running missionary training colleges....

 (1895–1986)

Charles Buxton
Charles Buxton
Charles Buxton was an English brewer, philanthropist, writer and Member of Parliament.Buxton was born in Cobham, Surrey, the third son of Sir Thomas Buxton, 1st Baronet, a notable brewer, MP and social reformer, and followed in his father's footsteps, becoming a partner in the brewery of Truman,...

  (1823–1871): married Emily Mary Holland
Bertram Henry Buxton (1852–1934)
Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton
Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton
Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton GCMG, PC was a British Liberal politician of the late 19th and early 20th centuries.-Background and education:...

 (1853–1934)

Writings

  • 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)

External links

The source of this article is wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.  The text of this article is licensed under the GFDL.
 
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