Thomas Fowell Buxton

Sir Fowell Buxton

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet (1 April 1786 – 19 February 1845) was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, abolitionist and social reformer. He had connections with the Gurney family.

Buxton was born at Castle Hedingham, Essex. His father was also named Thomas Fowell Buxton. His mother's maiden name was Anna Hanbury, a Quaker. Through her influence Buxton became associated with the Gurney family of Earlham Hall, Norwich. He was especially close to Joseph John Gurney, his sister the prison reformer Elizabeth Fry, and their sister Hannah, whom he married in May 1807. He lived at Northrepps Hall in Norfolk.

In 1808, Buxton's Hanbury family 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. He later became sole owner.

Although he was a member of the Church of England, Buxton attended meetings of the Friends (Quakers) with some of the Gurneys. In this way he became involved in the social reform movement, in which Friends were prominent. He helped 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. He also opposed capital punishment and pushed for its abolition. Although he never accomplished this last goal, he worked to restrict the crimes for which capital punishment was sentenced. The number was eventually reduced from over 200 to eight.

Thomas and Hannah Buxton had eight children. Four of them died of whooping cough over a five-week period around April 1820. Another one 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.

Buxton is on the left edge in this painting which is of the 1840 World Anti-Slavery Convention. Move cursor to identify him or click icon to enlarge

The slave trade had been abolished in 1807, but Buxton began to work for the abolition of the institution of slavery. In 1823 he helped found the Society for the Mitigation and Gradual Abolition of Slavery (later known as the Anti-Slavery Society). In the House of Commons in May 1823, Buxton introduced 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.

He presented a petition to the House of Commons bearing 187,000 signatures. This had been partly organised by Priscilla Buxton in 1833, and the first two signatures were Amelia Opie's and hers. He had achieved his goal when slavery was officially abolished in the British Empire, except in India and Ceylon. Buxton held his seat in Parliament until 1837.

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 they cut short the mission in 1841.

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.

On 30 July 1840 Buxton was created a baronet. His health failed gradually – according to some, due to disappointment over the failed mission to Africa. He died five years later and was buried at Overstrand.

On 16 June 1824 a meeting was held at Old Slaughter's Coffee House, St Martin's Lane, London, that created the Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals. (It became the RSPCA when Queen Victoria gave royal assent in 1840.) 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.

• A monument to Fowell Buxton stands in Westminster Abbey.
• A memorial to the emancipation of slaves, dedicated to Buxton, was installed in Victoria Tower Gardens. Commissioned by his son Charles Buxton MP, the Buxton Memorial Fountain was designed by Samuel Sanders Teulon and installed in Parliament Square. In 1940 it was removed during the German bombings of London in World War II. It was installed at its present location in 1957.
• A plaque is dedicated to him in Norwich Cathedral and another at the Norwich Friends Meeting House.
• A bust of him is in St. George's Cathedral, Freetown, Sierra Leone.
• Fowell Close in Norwich is named after him.
• A representation of Buxton was printed on the English five-pound note used between 2002 and 2017. He is the figure wearing glasses in the group to the left of Elizabeth Fry.
• In Weymouth, Dorset, which he served for 19 years as MP, the main route to the Isle of Portland is named Buxton Road. It runs past Belfield House, his former home in Wyke Regis. A permanent memorial to him was unveiled in 2017 on Bincleaves Green in Weymouth.

Buxton had a number of notable descendants (five sons and six daughters):

Sir Edward North Buxton, 2nd Baronet (1812–1858) married Catherine Gurney (seven sons, five daughters).

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 3rd Baronet (1837–1915) married Lady Victoria Noel.

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. High Sheriff of Norfolk for 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 (six sons, 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), 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 (two sons, four daughters)

Bertram Henry Buxton (1852–1934)

Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton, MP (1853–1934)

Priscilla Buxton (died 1852) married Andrew Johnston, MP (c. 1798–1862) (2 sons, 4 daughters)

Andrew Johnston, MP (1835–1895)

Fowell Buxton (born 1839), army officer, married Alice Douglas.

Edward Johnston (1872–1944), calligrapher

Thomas Mark Buxton (born 1874)

• 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)