xlviii Obituary Notices of Fellows deceased. 



The Observatory which Buckton took with him when he removed from 

 London to Haslemere was erected in the grounds at some little distance 

 from the house ; but his visits to it were discontinued after a serious accident 

 that befell him in 1882, when he overbalanced himself in trying to reach 

 the long focus of a Newtonian. He lay with a leg fractured in two places for 

 some hours before he was found ; and his recovery, though complete, was slow. 



Buckton interested himself sympathetically in all sorts of local matters, 

 acting as Treasurer and Chairman on various local bodies. In politics he 

 was a Conservative; in religion a moderate Churchman, with broad 

 sympathies, and he gave liberally to Church and Schools. Among his 

 large circle of friends he numbered many of eminence, among whom were 

 Tyndall and Tennyson, of whom, as they resided not far from Haslemere, he 

 saw a good deal. 



Though sometimes swift and uncompromising in his judgments, and 

 naturally of a quick temper, he was nevertheless gifted with remarkable 

 self-control, especially as regarded his physical infirmity. Those most 

 intimately associated with him can recall no single instance of moodiness or 

 murmuring ; but when some unexpected hindrance presented itself, he would 

 allude, half-sadly, and half -humorously to his disability ; a reference not 

 easily forgotten by those who heard it. It has been remarked that " the most 

 striking thing about him was his magnificent calm." 



Buckton kept his remarkable powers of work and energy to the last. The 

 finely -executed bust by E. Hope-Pinker, exhibited in the Academy of 1904, 

 plainly indicated how little old age had impaired his clear intellect and 

 vigour. He was finishing some water-colour sketches of Norway up to 

 within a few weeks of his death. 



Buckton succumbed at last rather from the natural exhaustion of old age 

 than from any physical disease. He sustained a chill, followed by three 

 weeks of illness and suffering ; but he was conscious to the last, and his 

 spirit passed peacefully away on the night of September 25, 1905, in the 

 presence of his wife and children. 



After cremation, the ashes were buried, according to his wish, in Haslemere 

 Churchyard, in the presence of many relatives, friends, and members of the 

 various Societies to which he had belonged. At the time the village was 

 celebrating the subdued festivities of its Harvest Home, adding an appro- 

 priate calm and beauty to a somewhat unusual ceremony. 



The present Lord Tennyson has written, concerning Mr. Buckton, " Truly 

 a devoted, spiritual, knightly nature, with a faith as clear as the height 

 of the pure blue heaven. His views and my father's upon Life, Death and 

 Immortality were very much alike. My father used to say, ' My most 

 passionate and most earnest desire is to have a fuller and clearer knowledge 

 of God.' " There is scarcely a preface to any of his larger works in which 

 Buckton does not incidentally reveal his deep-lying interest and trust in 

 things unseen, W. F. Kirby. 



