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.
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]
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.[9]
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]
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]
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]
The memorial on Bincleaves Green:
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.
Thomas Fowell Buxton (1822–1908) married Rachel Gurney (1823–1905) and had six sons and five daughters.
Charles Buxton, MP (1823–1871) married Emily Mary Holland (1824–1908) and had two sons and four daughters.
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.
Thomas Mark Buxton (born 1874)
