Sydney Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton

PC
2nd Governor-General of South Africa
In office 1914–1920
Monarch	George V
Prime Minister	Louis Botha Jan Smuts
Preceded by	The Viscount Gladstone
Succeeded by	Prince Arthur of Connaught
President of the Board of Trade
In office 14 February 1910 – 11 February 1914
Monarchs	Edward VII George V
Prime Minister	H. H. Asquith
Preceded by	Winston Churchill
Succeeded by	John Burns
Postmaster General
In office 1905–1910
Monarch	Edward VII
Preceded by	The Lord Stanley
Succeeded by	Herbert Samuel
Personal details
Born	(1853-10-25)25 October 1853 London, England, UK
Died	15 October 1934(1934-10-15) (aged 80) Newtimber, West Sussex, England, UK
Political party	Liberal
Spouse(s)	Constance Mary Lubbock (1882–1892; her death); 3 children Mildred Anne Smith (1896–1934; his death); 3 children
Alma mater	Trinity College, Cambridge
Profession	Member of Parliament

Sydney Charles Buxton, 1st Earl Buxton,

In 1880, Buxton became prominent in political circles by the publication of his Handbook to the Political Questions of the Day, a work which eventually went through 11 editions. That same year, he ran for Parliament for Boston, but lost. However, he became an MP in 1883 by winning a by-election in Peterborough. He was defeated in the 1885 general election, but returned to Parliament the very next year, representing Poplar. He would represent this constituency in Parliament until 1914.^[1]

From 1892 to 1895, Buxton served as

He was created Earl Buxton on 8 November 1920,[6] and continued to be a member of the Liberal Party, often supporting his close friend and colleague Sir Edward Grey. In his later years, he had to undergo amputation of his leg due to a knee injury sustained earlier in his life.

He died at Newtimber on 15 October 1934.^[1]

Marriages

Lord Buxton was twice married, firstly in 1882 to Constance Mary Lubbock (died 1892), second daughter of

By his first wife, he had two sons and one daughter, of whom the sons both died in his lifetime. By his second wife, he had one son and two daughters, of whom the son and the elder daughter died in his lifetime.[1]

Issue

By his first wife, Constance Mary Lubbock (died 3 November 1892):^[7]

• Charles Sydney Buxton (26 May 1884 – 31 August 1911); died unmarried. He proposed marriage to Octavia Wilberforce (1888–1963), a descendant of the reformer, but she refused him.
• Kenneth Sydney Buxton (4 September 1886 – 27 August 1894); died in childhood, aged seven.
• Lady Phyllis Sydney Buxton (17 April 1888 – 27 January 1942), later Lady Phyllis Ponsonby
  DL, JP (10 September 1880 – 27 February 1943), a grandson of The 2nd Baron De Mauley
  , had 5 children, of which two (Elizabeth and Mary) have descendants

• Lady Doreen Maria Josepha Sydney Buxton (29 November 1897 – 28 July 1923), a fraternal twin; married 24 January 1918 Charles Alfred Euston Fitzroy, a scion of the Dukes of Grafton. She died aged 25, shortly after the birth of her third child. After her death, her husband remarried. His second wife, Lucy Eleanor Barnes (died 1943), was a first cousin of his first wife through her Buxton mother, in 1924. Twice widowed, he married, thirdly, in 1944. He succeeded to the dukedom in August 1936 when a young cousin, The 9th Duke of Grafton, was killed in a motoring race.
• Denis Bertram Sydney Buxton (29 November 1897 – 9 October 1917), a fraternal twin; killed in action, aged 19,
  Tyne Cot Cemetery
  , a memorial bearing the names of some 35,000 men of the British and New Zealand forces who have no known grave, nearly all of whom died between August 1917 and November 1918.
• Lady Alethea Constance Dorothy Sydney Buxton (2 August 1910 – 25 July 2004); married Venerable
  MBE (30 October 1910 – 1995), son of Edward Granville Eliot (himself grandson of The 3rd Earl of St Germans
  ) and Clare Louise Phelips, on 12 July 1934. They had no issue, and Lady Alethea died aged 93 in 2004.

Since all his sons died unmarried in his lifetime, his titles became extinct at his death. Earl Buxton was survived by his second wife Mildred (died 1955) and his youngest daughter Lady Althea Eliot (died 2004), and by eight grandchildren including the future Duke of Grafton (1919–2011).

Works

• Handbook to Political Questions of the Day (1880).
• Mr. Gladstone's Irish Bills (1886).
• Finance and Politics: An Historical Study, 1783–1885. Volume I and Volume II (1888).
• Mr. Gladstone as Chancellor of the Exchequer (1901).
• Fishing and Shooting (1902).
• The Arguments on either side of the Fiscal Question (1903).
• General Botha (1924).

References

• Hesilrige, Arthur G. M. (1921). Debrett's Peerage and Titles of courtesy. London: London: Dean & son, limited. p. 158.
• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Sydney Buxton
• Titanic's Supreme Survivor – Sydney Buxton