“Fowell Buxton”的意思、由来-开放百科全书

Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton, 1st Baronet (1 April 1786^[1] – 19 February 1845) was an English Member of Parliament, brewer, abolitionist and social reformer.^[2] He had connections with the Gurney family.

Early life

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.{{Citation needed|date=October 2014}}

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 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.{{citation needed|date=July 2017}} He also opposed capital punishment and pushed for its abolition. Although he never accomplished this last goal during his lifetime, he worked to restrict the crimes for which capital punishment was sentenced; the number was in the event reduced from more than 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.^[3]

Abolitionism

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.{{sfn |Sheridan |2002 |p=247}} 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.^[5] 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% of the group dying rapidly, that they cut short the mission in 1841.

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.^[6] 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.

Founding RSPCA chairman

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.)^[7] 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.^[8]

Legacy and honours

Descendants

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

Thomas Fowell Buxton (1822–1908): Married Rachel Gurney (six sons, five daughters)

Charles Buxton, MP (1823–1871): married Emily Mary Holland (two sons, four daughters)

Priscilla Buxton (died 1852): married Andrew Johnston, MP (c. 1798–1862)^[11] (2 sons, 4 daughters)

Writings

References

1. ^Olwyn Mary Blouet, "Buxton, Sir Thomas Fowell, first baronet (1786–1845)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2010 accessed 25 April 2013.
2. ^{{Cite DNB|wstitle=Buxton, Thomas Fowell (1786-1845)}}
3. ^{{cite book |author1=Hugh Morrison |author2=Mary Clare Martin |title=Creating Religious Childhoods in Anglo-World and British Colonial Contexts, 1800-1950 |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=FtTzDQAAQBAJ&pg=PT108 |date=20 January 2017 |publisher=Taylor & Francis |isbn=978-1-315-40876-7 |page=108}}
4. ^The Anti-Slavery Society Convention, 1840, Benjamin Robert Haydon, 1841, National Portrait Gallery, London, NPG599, Given by British and Foreign Anti-Slavery Society in 1880
5. ^{{cite book |title=Genius of Universal Emancipation |url=https://books.google.com/books?id=1HcSAAAAIAAJ&pg=PA174 |year=1833 |publisher=B. Lundy |page=174}}
6. ^{{London Gazette |issue=19872 |date=7 July 1840 |page=1599}}
7. ^Antony Brown, Who Cares For Animals? 150 Years of the RSPCA (London: Heinemann,1974), 16. Kathryn Shevelow, For the Love of Animals: The Rise of the Animal Protection Movement (New York: Henry Holt, 2009), 269 & 280.
8. ^Edward G. Fairholme and Wellesley Pain, A Century of Work for Animals: The History of the R.S.P.C.A., 1824–1934(London: John Murray, 1934), pp. 54 and 301. Arthur W. Moss, Valiant Crusade: The History of the R.S.P.C.A. (London: Cassell, 1961), pp. 22–23. Brown, Who Cares For Animals?, p. 16.
9. ^Work is underway for a monument to honour former MP, Thomas Fowell Buxton
10. ^{{cite book |title=The royal lineage of our noble and gentle families |first=J |last=Foster |page=138}}
11. ^Clare Midgley, "Buxton , Priscilla (1808–1852)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, September 2015 accessed 25 June 2017

Bibliography

External links