1061 



BUTTON, SIR THOMAS. 



BUXTON, SIR THOMAS FOWELL, BART. 



1062 



London in 1833, and another in America by Professor Robinson; (3), 

 his complete Greek Grammar, which however only contains the 

 Accidence. II. His ' Lexilogus,' which has been well translated by 

 Mr. Fishlake. III. His ' Mythologus ;' a collection of his mythological 

 and historical essays. 



A memorable feature in Buttmann's literary character was his 

 willingness to give assistance to other writers. He began with assisting 

 Schweighauser ; and Heindorf, Blester, Wolf, Spalding, and Niebuhr, 

 successively received and acknowledged his valuable aid. lu all his 

 literary labours Buttmanu was distinguished for an honest and discri- 

 minating scepticism ; he never doubted however but with a wish to 

 find out the truth, and in contriving methods of fathoming a difficulty 

 he never was exceeded in ingenuity. His private character was very 

 amiable, and doubtless Schleiermacher was justified in saying that 

 " there was hardly one in the circle of his literary acquaintances so 

 well known, so unanimously appreciated, and BO entirely beloved 

 as he was." 



BUTTON, SIR THOMAS, one of the early Arctic navigators, was an 

 able seaman in the reign of James I., whose son (the Prince Henry) 

 seems to have been his first patron. In 1612, about three years after 

 the unhappy death of the navigator Hudson, the merchants of London 

 eugag-d Button to follow up Hudson's discoveries with two ships, the 

 ' Resolution ' and the ' Discovery.' Crossing the Atlantic, Button 

 entered Hudson's Straits to the south of Resolution Islands, and then 

 keeping without deviation a western course, he reached Southampton 

 Island. Sailing still to the west, he fell in with the American conti- 

 nent, in 60 40' N. lat. From this point of the mainland, which he 

 named ' Hope Checked," he made away to the south, and on the 

 15th of August 1612, he discovered the mouth of Nelson's River, in 

 57 10' N. lat. At this point he determined to winter; and to secure 

 his sL: against the icebergs, he caused strong piles to be driven into 

 the Be;-. Button, like several recent commanders of Arctic expe- 

 ditions, showed great ability in amusing his men, in order to keep up 

 their spirits against the depressing effects of inactivity : he proposed to 

 them questions connected with navigation and mathematics, and thus 

 mingled instruction with amusement. During their detention here 

 several of the sailors died. On the return of spring he employed his 

 ships' companies in killing game, which was so abundant that 1800 

 dozen of white partridges were brought in during their stay. 



The river thawed on the ICth of February, and in two mouths, the 

 sea being clear of ice, he explored the bay in the neighbourhood of 

 Nelson's River, and named it button's Bay. He then went north as 

 fir as lat. 65, and fell in with a cluster of islands, which he called 

 ManceVs Inlands (now Mansfield's). Proceeding to Cape Chidley, he 

 discovered the passage between that cape and Labrador, and thence 

 reached England in sixteen days, in the autumn of 1613. He was the 

 first navigator that reached the eastern coast of America through 

 Hudson's Straits. Button never published an account of his voyage ; 

 all that we have from his journal is an extract in Purchas. The 

 government of the day made him a knight. 



(Purchaa, ll>i Pilyrima ; Cooley, Hint. Maritime Dwcoveriet.) 



BUXTON, JEDEDIAH, was born at Elmton, near Chesterfield, 

 about the year 1705. His grandfather had been clergyman of the 

 parish, and his father was schoolmaster of the same place ; but 

 Jede<liah was so illiterate that he could not even write, and his mental 

 faculties, with one exception, were of a low order. He possessed how- 

 ever remarkable facility in performing arithmetical calculations, and 

 when he fairly understood a problem, which it was not easy for him 

 to do if it was a little complicated, he solved it with wonderful 

 rapidity. He was altogether incapable of looking into the relation of 

 thing*, except with respect to the number of parts of which they 

 were composed. After hearing a sermon he knew nothing more of it 

 than that it contained a certain number of words, which he had 

 counted during ita delivery. If a period of time were mentioned he 

 began calculating tho number of minutes which it included ; and if 

 the size of any object were described, he would at once compute how 

 many hairs-breadths it contained. His ideai were comparatively 

 childish ; and his mind was only stored with a few constants which 

 facilitated his calculations, such as the number of minutes in a year, 

 and of hair'n-breadths in a mile. His system of mental arithmetic 

 was not founded upon any sound principles ; in fact he could scarcely 

 be aid to have a system. He would, for instance, in order to ascertain 

 the product of 478 multiplied by 10U, proceed first to multiply it by 5, 

 and then by 20, instead of at once adding a couple of ciphers. 



Hi* condition in life appears to have been either that of a small 

 land-owner or a day-labourer; but probably the former. Having a 

 strong desire to see the king, he walked up to London to gratify this 

 wish, but from some circumstance or other he did not see him. 

 During his stay in the metropolis, Jedediah was examined in calcu- 

 lation by ieveral members of the Royal Society. He was taken to see 

 Garrick in Richard III., and during the performance occupied himself 

 in counting the number of words which each of thu actors made use 

 of, and the quantity of steps in a dance; but he acknowledged tliat 

 iilruuiental music, with its complication and variety of sounds, 

 baffled his skill. In June 1754 a portrait of Buxton appeared in the 

 ' Gentleman's Magazine,' with a short account of his life. He is repre- 

 sented in the print as being in his forty-ninth year. His death 

 ,.;d between 1770 and 1780. He was married, and had a family. 



BUXTON, SIR THOMAS FOWELL, BART., was bora on the 

 1st of April 1786, at Castle Hedingham in Essex. For his early edu- 

 cation he was sent to the school of Dr. Charles Burney, of Greenwich ; 

 he was afterwards intrusted to the private tuition of a clergyman at 

 Donnybrook in Ireland, and subsequently became an undergraduate 

 at Trinity College, Dublin, where he highly distinguished himself. On 

 the 13th of May 1807 he married Hannah, the fifth daughter of John 

 Gurney, of Earlham Hall, near Norwich, by whom he had several 

 children. Of these, the present Sir Edward North Buxton was born 

 in 1812. 



In 1803 Mr. Buxton entered the brewing establishment of Truman, 

 Hanbury, & Co., in which his uncles, Sampson and Osgood Hanbury, 

 were partners. In 1811 Buxton himself became a partner, and soon 

 after obtained the principal management of the brewery, to the duties 

 of which he closely and successfully applied himself for several years. 



Mr. Buxton's first appearance in public affairs was at a meeting of 

 the Norfolk and Norwich Auxiliary Bible Society, in September 1812. 

 In 1816 he took a prominent part at a large meeting held at the 

 Mansion House, London, to inquire into the best means of relieving 

 the extreme distress of the population of Spitalfields. As the result 

 of this meeting, a sum of about 44,OOOZ. was collected for the Spital- 

 fields weavers. His attention was also directed to the state of prison 

 discipline ; he inspected many prisons, and published an * Inquiry ' 

 into the subject, illustrated by descriptions of several jails, and an 

 account of the proceedings of the Ladies' Committee in Newgate, the 

 most active of whom was Mrs. Elizabeth Fry, his sister-in-law. 



In 1818 Mr. Buxton was elected member of parliament for the 

 borough of Weymouth, after a severe contest; and in 1819 he took a 

 prominent part in the debates of the House of Commons on prison 

 discipline, the amelioration of the criminal law, the suppression of 

 lotteries, and the abolition of the practice of burning widows in India. 

 He continued to represent the borough of Weymouth for nearly 

 twenty years, during which period he was assiduous iu the perform- 

 ance of his parliamentary duties (few members so frequently addressed 

 the House), nor did he ever slacken or deviate in the assertion and 

 working out of those benevolent principles with which he started in 

 public life. 



But it is with the Anti-Slavery cause that Fowell Buxton's name is 

 most closely and honourably associated. An earnest coadjutor of 

 Mr. Wilberforce in his efforts on behalf of the oppressed negroes, Mr. 

 Buxton succeeded to that philanthropist's place iu the House of Com- 

 mons as the acknowledged leader of the emancipationists. On the 

 15th of May 1823, Mr. Buxton brought forward a resolution to the 

 effect " that the state of slavery is repugnant to the principles of the 

 British constitution and of the Christian religion, and that it ought to 

 be gradually abolished throughout the British colonies, with as much 

 expedition as may be found consistent with a due regard to the well- 

 being of the parties concerned." In opposition to this motion, Mr. 

 Canning, on the part of the government, moved and carried certain 

 amendments, one of which asserted the anxiety of the House for the 

 emancipation of the slaves " at the earliest period that shall be com- 

 patible with the well-being of the slaves themselves, with the safety of 

 the colonies, and with a fair and equitable consideration of the rights 

 of private property." During the struggles and agitations, both at 

 home and in the colonies, for the ensuiug ten or twelve years, Mr. 

 Buxton was steadily engaged in the prosecution of the cause of free- 

 dom, encouraged and supported by the moral feeling of the country, 

 and in parliament by Brougham, Lushiugton, Macaulay, and a few 

 other earnest opponents of slavery. At length, when in 1833 the 

 secretary for the colonies, Mr. Stanley (now Earl of Derby), brought 

 forward his plan for the abolition of slavery, Mr. Buxton, although 

 dissatisfied with the apprenticeship and compensation clauses, gladly 

 accepted the measure, and he had very soon the additional satisfaction 

 of finding the apprenticeship abandoned by the slaveholders them- 

 selves. 



In 1837 he lost his election for Weymouth, and from that time 

 refused to be again put in nomination for that or any other borough. 

 In 1838 he was chiefly occupied with the preparation of a work on the 

 best means of extirpating the African slave-trade. In 1839-40 the state 

 of his health caused him to seek relaxation iu a continental tour. At 

 Rome he visited the prisons, and suggested improvements. On his 

 return iu 1840 the crown conferred on him the dignity of a baronet. 

 On the 1st of June a public meeting in behalf of African civilisation 

 was held in Exeter Hall, at which Prince Albert presided, aud the 

 first resolution was moved by Sir T. F. Buxton. The result of this 

 movement was the well-meant but disastrous expedition to the Niger 

 in 1841. During 1843 aud 1844 Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton found his 

 health declining, and his death took place on the 19th of February, 

 1845, at his residence, North-Repps Hall, near Aylsham iu Norfolk, 

 at the age of 59. 



Sir Thomas Fowell Buxton was a man of singularly commanding 

 person ; he was more than six feet four inches iu height, and of a fine 

 expression of countenance. As a speaker he was somewhat heavy both 

 in style aud delivery, but the influence arising from his high character 

 always secured him a respectful attention. He had no great reach of 

 intellect or imagination, and except when roused ou exciting occasion?, 

 he had little of the fervour of an orator ; but in collecting facts his 

 industry was untiring, and in exhibiting and commenting upon them 



