BUXTON, SIR Thomas Powell, English philanthropist: b. Earl's Colne, Essex, 1 April 1786; d. 19 Feb. 1845. He was educated at Trinity College, Dublin, and in 1808 joined the firm of celebrated brewers, Truman, Hanbury & Company, and took an active share in carry ing on the business. In 1816, on the occasion of the Spitalfields distress, he made his first public effort in a speech at the Mansion House, and afterward succeeded in organizing an ex tensive system of relief. He next proceede in concert with his sister-in-law, the celebrate Mrs. Elizabeth Fry (q.v.), to examine into the state of prisons; and as the result of his inquiries produced in 1818 a work entitled An Inquiry Whether Crime and Misery are Pro duced or Prevented by Our Present System of Prison Discipline,' which attracted great at tention, and led to the formation of the Prison Discipline Society. In 1818 he was elected member of Parliament for Weymouth, and con tinued to sit for it in successive Parliaments till 1837. He distinguished himself by his en
lightened zeal in the cause of humanity, and was long the right-hand man of Wilberforce, who, on retiring from public life, selected Buxton as the person best qualified to carry out those of his benevolent schemes which remained un completed. In 1823 he moved and, with a slight modification, carried a resolution to the effect that slavery, being repugnant to the Christian religion and the British constitution, ought to be abolished. Subsequently in 1831 he made such an impression on the House and country by an admirable speech that the government were glad to take the matter into their own hands and give full effect to emancipation. Aftet his retirement from Parliament the slave trade occupied much of his thoughts, and he published in 1839 a work entitled 'The Slave-trade and Its Remedy.' In 1840 he was created a baronet. Consult 'Memoirs of Sir T. F. Buxton, Bart.> (1872).