BUXTON, SIR THOMAS FOWELL Eng lish philanthropist, was born at Earl's Colne, Essex, on April 1, 1786, and was educated at Trinity College, Dublin. In 1807 he married Hannah Gurney, sister of Elizabeth Fry. He entered in 1808 the brewery of Truman, Hanbury & Company, of which his uncles, the Hanburys, were partners. He became a partner in 1811, and soon had the whole concern in his hands. In 1816 he made a famous speech on behalf of the Spitalfields weavers, and in 1818 he published his able Inquiry into Prison Discipline. The same year he was elected M.P. for Weymouth, a borough he represented till 1837. In the House of Commons Buxton worked for the abolition of slavery in British co'_onies, but when success came in 1833 he was compelled to admit into the bill some clauses against which his better judgment had decided. He travelled on the continent in 1839 to recruit his health, which had given way, and took the opportunity of inspecting foreign prisons. He was made a baronet in 1840, and then devoted himself to a plan for ameliorating the condition of the African natives. The failure of the Niger expedition of 1841 was a blow from which he never recovered. He died on Feb. 19, See Memoir and Correspondence of Sir T. F. Buxton (1848), by his third son, Charles Buxton (1823-71) .