Buxton, SIR THOMAS FOWELL,

Buxton, SIR THOMAS FOWELL, philanthropist, was born in 1786 at Earls Colne, Essex. Educated at Kingston, and under Dr Burney at Greenwich, from 1803 to 1807 he studied with brilliant success at Trinity College, Dublin, whilst his youth was distinguished by a strong development of animal energy, natural enough to a young Englishman whose full stature exceeded 6 feet 4. In 1807 he married a sister of the celebrated Mrs Fry, and in 1808 entered business as a brewer, with an energy which in due time was crowned with splendid prosperity. His warm religious and moral impulses soon brought him prominently forward as an advocate of philanthropic interests. The relief of the Spitalfield weavers and the reform of prison discipline formed early subjects of his efforts. In 1818 he entered parliament as member for Wey- mouth, which he continued to represent till 1837, taking a prominent part in every debate on such questions as the amelioration of criminal law and prison discipline, suttee abolition, and slave emancipation. The last in particular engrossed a large share of his activity for many years. In 1824, at Wilberforce's request, he succeeded him as head of the anti-slavery party; and no man on that side displayed more indomitable zeal and firmness. He lost his seat through his opposition to bribery, and refused ever after to stand for a constituency. His philanthropic labours, however, ended only with his life. In 1840 he received the well-merited distinction of a baronetcy. He died 19th February 1845, and a statue has been erected to him in Westminster Abbey. See Memoirs of Sir T. Fowell Buxton (1848), edited by his third son, Charles (1823-71), who sat in parliament as an independent Liberal from 1857, and who, like his father, was a partner in the brewery of Truman, Hanbury, Buxton & Co.